


Crowns

by Angelology



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Multi, rt king au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-12
Updated: 2014-10-12
Packaged: 2018-02-20 22:09:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 31,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2444921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angelology/pseuds/Angelology
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Geoff was a child, he definitely did not expect that a war would break out and devastate their lands when he became King. He also definitely did not expect growing so close to the boys he fought beside during the battles.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Crowns

**Author's Note:**

> Annnnnnnnnd this got well out of hand again. What am I doing.

Geoff remembered asking, as a child, why the hell it was so important that they had to go outside their walls to go and visit some other dumb family behind another stinking set of walls because they got a stupid, crying little infant.  
  
Honestly, Geoff didn’t understand the whole celebration for the new baby that probably sniveled everywhere and vomited on everything and he just couldn’t fathom why it was so damn important that they had to leave their city, their kingdom, to go visit another.  
  
His parents, the King and Queen of Achievement City, had promised him - in an attempt to cheer Geoff up - his friend Ryan would be there. Ryan was almost three years younger than Geoff, who was currently ten at the time, but the kid was surprisingly smart and was honestly much better company than half the workers at the castle.

It took almost a whole 2 day’s journey to get to the desired Kingdom which was situated on the lands next to Achievement City, and because Achievement City was the biggest kingdom of all - with the most lands and resources - travelling out to others was always a pain in the ass as they were so far.

  
When they got to the kingdom, Geoff found himself in awe. He hadn’t gone to another castle in over a year, and had forgotten just how magnificent the other castles were.  
  
Until now, of course. The walls, used to block out any lurking monsters in the night coming into the kingdom, were made of cobblestone, but laced with iron blocks in a very intricate design that made Geoff appreciate the handiwork of it.  
  
But then again, the Jones’s were always well known for their metals and their works with it, with weaponry and all sorts of things used across the realm. They weren’t as good with handiwork and craftsmanship as the Pattillo’s were, but it was still damn impressive to see the big castle.  
  
They were let through after some thorough checks by the guards at the gates, but they were cleared easily enough and eventually made their way in through the open castle doors.  
  
The hallway that stretched out in front of them had animal pelts and monster pelts hung up on the wall and Geoff took a second to appreciate just how many different kinds there were hanging on the walls. They walked down the hallway, escorted by some soldier who looked like he could snap Geoff in half - who was definitely not weak by any means of the term - and would use him as a toothpick.  
  
He didn’t have to feel intimidated for long, however, as a familiar friend came running down the hallway. It wasn’t formal to run in castles, it was something both he and Ryan had been told off enough for plenty of times, but they still did it anyway.  
  
Ryan stopped just in front of Geoff’s parents and bowed respectfully. They just laughed and gestured for him to go ahead and approach Geoff, and he did so with a huge grin on his face and hugged the boy.  
  
“ Jack is here! He doesn’t talk much, and he’s sitting outside and is extremely fascinated by the butterflies in the garden,” Ryan said excitedly and Geoff smiled a little. It had been a year or so since he had seen Jack, and hopefully the boy would be a bit more out of his shell at this point.  
  
His parents had then scolded them both lightly, saying that they were here for the new child and that they would see Jack after. Turns out, Jack was in the room with all the other royalty anyway, so Ryan and Geoff snuck away from their parents as they admired the child.  
  
Jack had grown a little, and had become a bit more energetic. He spoke in on Ryan and Geoff’s conversations, and although he was still young and had no idea what the hell the older boys were saying, his little bursts of information about crafting made up for it.  
  
They had eventually seen the new child, but it was nothing interesting to Geoff. His mum promised that he would would be good friends with the baby one day, that they would all remain good friends, and would gain some more.  
  
Geoff eventually began to appreciate these new children popping up. It gave him new friends, and it gave him a reason to see his current ones: Jack and Ryan, and now hopefully Michael as he grew older.  
  
He saw them at some annual celebration a few months after Michael Jones’ birth, but he saw them again a few months after that for another child’s birth. This one was of Gavin Free, who lived in the lands even further, but their forest-type terrain was a scenery that Geoff appreciated.

  
The terrain was like that for a reason, though. If it wasn’t, Geoff had heard that the Free’s wouldn’t even be royalty. They had, as he heard his father say, a strong force of defence and offence that no one could match. Somehow, the family had been able to gain control over a certain type of feared monster; the Creepers. Known typically for creeping about and following adventurers, exploding when they got close enough. Their lack of desire for life and their desire to take life when they exploded created a strong defence against any attacks on their castle - many too scared to cross through the Creeper infested lands - and a strong offence for the same reason.  
  
It always did unnerve Geoff slightly, that somehow a family had been able to tame such destructive monsters, but once he had seen Gavin Free he had been forced to doubt his unease. The Creepers would protect his innocent life from those who might try and take it, who thought the kingdom was weak after the birth and during the ceremony, when the Creepers were forced to be hidden away as to not disturb the visitors.  
  
Some fool did try that move, but got no further than the castle gate before being shot down by an arrow. The marksman was unidentified, but it made Geoff appreciate just how the Free’s were not ones to mess around when it came to their own safety and the lives of others - despite being joking about pretty much everything else in life.  
  
Geoff had heard Michael’s first words spoken to him at another ceremony a year later for the birth of Ray Narvaez Jr. Michael just spouted nonsense, but Geoff could’ve sworn that somewhere amongst all the babbling he had heard the word _shit.  
  
_ The castle of the Narvaez’s was elegant and beautiful, but Geoff had heard it compared to that of a rose. It was pretty, but it fooled the unsuspecting into pricking themselves on the thorns. When Geoff saw the castle for the first time - it was too far to have ever have visited and his father would just never allow Geoff to come along on his journeys there - he realised the description was perfect.  
  
There was, inside the castle, an insane amount of guards, knights and warriors. They stood present at all times, all shrouded and undisguisable, and if Geoff didn't have a keen eye for these things he would never have seen them.

The thing he remembered the most about that day was that he got to hold Ray, this tiny little bundle covered in a red blanket, and Ray had stared at him with these ridiculously large eyes and Geoff had only felt the need to protect him, to make sure no harm came his way. _  
  
_ Gavin and Michael had gotten jealous - expressing it by wailing until one of the older kids held them and they instantly quieted - , and so Geoff, Ryan and Jack were forced to hold all three of the younger children. Geoff still had his armful of Ray, Ryan had gotten Gavin and Jack had Michael.  
  
They had sat around a table, glaring at anyone they didn’t know coming towards them and just daring them to try and take the kids from them. From that point all the kingdoms knew that the six boys would grow up to be inseparable.  
  
They were right, of course.

Right up until a few months after Geoff's 18th and Ryan's 16th, if there was ever a meeting of royalty, the boys could always be found with one another and it would take a lot of pleading to get them to separate.

 

And then Geoff had been forced to stand with the adults, with his parents, and stand around as they talked about their allegiances and an uprising threats.

 

It was honestly the most boring thing to do, and Geoff couldn't wait for the day until Ryan was forced to join him in the room as well.

 

There was nothing going on in the lands; all of their borders were well protected and defended. There were no uprising threats, no issues with their allegiances. There was nothing to even discuss, and Geoff found the meetings pointless.

 

Geoff began to see the boys a bit less after that. Every time he saw them, they were taller, stronger, faster and it ached Geoff's heart that he couldn't be there to watch them grow.

Eventually, Ryan joined him in the meetings and made the meeting a little more bearable with the shared looks at each other; eyebrows raised in disbelief, eye rolls, smirks when something amused them.

 

However, when they all exited the room, Ryan and Geoff would linger behind to whisper to each other. At one annual meeting, - the second after Ryan had joined and another 2 away from Jack joining them - Ryan gave him some heartbreaking news.

 

"Ray doesn't remember you anymore," Ryan had said, "he simply knows you as the Ramsey prince guy. I've been able to visit his kingdom more, I've tried jogging his memory... But he's forgotten you."

 

And Geoff knew he couldn't blame Ryan for it. Ryan was simply closer to the Narvaez borders, could get there in less than half a day, it was nothing Geoff could control.

 

He resented having to live in Achievement City, so far from any other borders. So far away from his boys.

 

And so Geoff had let his parents know he was going to go out hunting for a few days. In truth, he ended up going to the Narvaez palace- his group of soldiers he was required to take along as security sworn to secrecy. So they said nothing when Geoff had spent the whole day with Ray, making sure the boy would no longer forget him. They played with toys and wooden swords, because Ray was only six and really cared for nothing else. By the time Geoff went to leave, Ray was clinging onto his neck and begging him not to leave him.

 

Geoff promised he would come back, and had gone to visit Ryan, only a border across. Ryan had showed him a new prisoner they had held in the cells underneath the palace. There was solid glass floors that were used as the floor, and a Ryan promised the glass would not break and that the prisoners couldn't see out even though they could see them.

 

The new one was a Mage, Ryan had explained, saying he was playing with Ender Magic just on the outskirts of the castle. They had subdued him quickly and had thrown him in the cells. His name was Edgar, apparently.

 

Ender Magic was dark, powerful magic that was guaranteed to cause strife and death. Ryan himself practiced magic, as most Haywood's had a special talent for it, but definitely not Ender Magic. The last Haywood to do so had nearly destroyed all of the kingdom almost fifty years ago. After that, the magic had been banned.

 

Geoff had sent a few of his soldiers to go out hunting while he and Ryan talked and joked around. He would pay the soldiers handsomely, of course, in an effort to keep their mouths shut when Geoff presented the winnings to his parents.  
  
Ryan had showed him his newest tricks, his newest potions and Geoff found himself marvelling at just how damn smart the guy was.

  
When Geoff had to return back to his own lands, his guards had managed to grab a very convincing amount of skins to please his parents. Somehow, they had managed to even get an Enderman's pearl, which something Geoff thought some of those idiots were incapable of doing.

 

Still, they got it done and no questions were raised about Geoff's 'hunting' trip.

 

* * *

 

A few months before Jack was able to be allowed into the 'adult' meetings, tragedy had struck Geoff. Illness had taken his parents - even though he was pretty sure his father passed away from the heartbreak.

 

It wasn't like Geoff didn't know how to be a king. He had been taught all his life, all 21 years, but it didn't mean he felt ready.

 

But that wasn't a good enough argument to keep the crown from lying on top of his head, to stop the coronation of the new king of Achievement City.

 

At least it allowed for his boys to visit. Unfortunately, Geoff was a little too busy in drowning his sorrows with a worrisome amount of alcohol that he barely remembered even interacting with them at all.

 

Problems began to arise in the lands just by the time Jack had been allowed into the annual meetings. The three of them couldn't even share bored looks – as Geoff had imagined them all to – as they were focused solely on the new threats.

 

As King, Geoff had been doing alright so far. His people respected him, the monsters still feared him and his relationships with the fellow kingdoms was blossoming quite well.

 

So of course, some damn new plague had to threaten all that. The crops were being poisoned in the Pattillo, Jones and just on the edges of his own lands. The forest area between the Free and Narvaez area was being burned down without a trace of who did it.

 

Haywood had managed to stay clear, and Geoff had a suspicion that it had something to do with Ryan's own magic. They did, at least, offer some of their protection to the Narvaez and Pattillo lands – their neighbours – which they gracefully accepted.

 

There wasn't much they could do. Geoff traded some of his own mercantile; seeds, some basic essentials like wood for the Narvaez and Free kingdom. For some potion from the Haywood's that would hopefully keep the crops alive he was required to trade some resources only found in his domain.

 

They agreed to keep in contact and would host another meeting in a few months time.

 

A lot changed by then. The crops on the outer borders of Geoff's land had been alright thanks to the potion, but there were some random cases of water drying up and some of Geoff's personal mines somehow being filled in. It was nothing, however, compared to the other kingdoms.

  
Jack's parents had succumbed to a poison that had been laced in their food; Jack had just managed to miss out on taking a bite by seconds, apparently. The Narvaez land was running low on most resources due to the land being burned down – nothing the Haywood's could do to help on that front -. The Free's had expressed worry of a few Creepers beginning to disobey their commands. Not enough to be an issue, but enough to be of concern. The Jones were lacking in minerals and the Haywood's were also running out of potions.

 

Geoff was, over the next five years or so, constantly drained of energy at trying to fight the forces against them. The kingdoms had been working well together so far. Jack was making an excellent king, ruling with patience and compassion, but it was getting harder for him, too.

 

Still, they were not closer to vanquishing the enemies against them that still remained a mystery. They were still alive and ruling, still strong enough that their ruling was not questioned, but it was getting harder.

 

It was just after Gavin turned 16 when the battles really began.  
  
The first strike was against the Narvaez's. They were too far for Geoff to be of any assistance- by the time he had even gotten word that they had been attacked, had been _conquered,_ it was already too late for Geoff to help.

  


He received the message from Ryan; a small paper message sent through a discrete network of messengers. Worry for the family, the whole Narvaez land had seized his heart and he found himself pacing his castle in anticipation of more news. Conquered, but conquered how? Killed? Captured?

 

But still, that line was not secure enough to send the whole message and Ryan had surely felt that way, judging by the way he literally materialised right in front of Geoff when he was walking down his hallways.

 

“Hello,” Ryan had said, and for a second his image flickered and Geoff barely noticed it due to the shock of Ryan appearing out of _fucking thin air right in front of him._

 

When Geoff had finally relaxed his fighting stance, Ryan had continued despite Geoff's own lack of greeting. “It's an image of me, so no, you can't hit me. It'll only last a few minutes, though, so listen up. The Narvaez king and queen, as far as we know, have been locked away. The attackers are masked and well defended with Ender creatures, so we can't get past. But... we did manage to get this,”

 

And Ryan had beckoned to someone out of the image, someone obviously with him, and Geoff found himself breathing a sigh of relief when Ray had stepped into the frame of projection.

 

He was taller and had the beginnings of stubble of a beard that didn't really suit his lankiness and still young face. He wore a black cloak, lined with a rich red and Geoff was at least glad the damn idiot had gotten out safe as well. Despite growing, he hadn't have seemed to grow out of his cheeky smirk and Geoff found himself returning the grin.

 

“We caught wind of the attack a few hours before and managed to get Ray out of the kingdom and smuggle him here. He was all we could get, though. We've sent some of our forces to check out the attackers, but they haven't reported back and we expect the worst. For now, we'll keep Ray in our kingdom. He's protected here, but I suspect we'll be in trouble soon. They'll move to attack us next- half of our resources went to helping the others, and we're out of tricks and my magic has decided to fucking run dry. Gavin should be fine for now as a large majority of the Creepers are still obeying the Free's. That won't last out, I assume.”

 

There was worry creased into Ryan's forehead, his eyebrows furrowing in concern for the others. Geoff could feel the same emotions on his face.

 

“Gav said he's worried, though,” Ray spoke up and Geoff could barely stifle the laughter at Ray's sudden voice drop. “He said the Creepers are beginning to get... 'spaffy'. “

 

Ryan elbowed Ray in the ribs. “They won't be attacked, not until it's certain the Creepers will no longer work as a defence. For now, it'd be too dangerous to risk losing a lot of people so early in the fight.”

 

“In the war,” Geoff solemnly corrected and Ryan's face steeled, his expression going cold as he nodded.

 

“We can't risk another meeting, for any of us to be away from our lands right now. It's too dangerous. I'll keep you posted. Until then...” Ryan smiled, sort of sadly, and Geoff wondered if maybe the fight, the _war,_ had taken away his joyous energy.

 

“Bye assholes. Stay safe, you hear me?” Geoff ordered and Ryan just nodded and Ray grinned before they disappeared.

* * *

 

Geoff was busy fighting his own fronts for the next few months. He had been kept posted through his own sources. There was still no progress on unmasking the attackers, and the attempts to try and recover the Narvaez rulers had so far been unsuccessful.

 

The attackers, however, were beginning to get lucky. They managed to gain more territory on the Haywood side, who were already lacking in resources and had lost a lot of their potions to the other kingdoms. Geoff had given some help- some weapons, some other minerals and resources that could help.

 

The Haywood's lasted out a year. Ryan had managed to escape with his mother and Ray, but Ryan's father had died trying to push back the enemy forces that had moved in.

 

After that, it seemed, Ryan changed a little. His cheery attitude, his cheekiness, had turned into something... darker. Geoff had spotted the difference almost immediately when Ryan had projected in front of him after escaping.

 

They had moved to the Jones's, who had a very strong line of knights and soldiers. The Jones's themselves were feared enough, and Michael himself had gained a new nickname of 'Mogar’ recently.

 

The Free's and Pattillo's, it seemed, would lose their grounds next. The masked attackers were already making their way through the forest land between the Narvaez and Free borders for a while, but had been halted by the Creepers. The Pattillo's were being attacked the same way- the attackers were slowly cutting down the forest land, making their way further into the land.  
  
So far, the attackers had been unsuccessful into both lands due to the strong defence and offences. Still, it wouldn't be long until the lands were conquered and all of them knew it. Thanks to Ryan building his abilities with his little projection trick, Geoff was able to contact all of them pretty much directly and began to realise just how desperate their situations were.

 

Geoff had helped as much as he could, but the situation was only getting worse. He knew if he gave too much, it would leave him with little to defend his kingdom. And while his was the biggest - guaranteed to be attacked last - it was definitely an issue to protect such a wide area.

 

The Pattillo’s and Free’s had been taken over pretty much at the exact same time, so Geoff wasn’t sure who had been conquered first. Ryan had been projecting the scene of Gavin - who, at the time, was in a tight situation as one of the attackers eventually got through the castle walls and cornered him, his parents and the few knights and Creepers they had left.  
  
But the attacker was alone, and Geoff immediately had an uneasy feeling tugging at his gut. He was right to be nervous about it. He watched as the masked attacker moved his hands in an erratic manner, and a moment later the projection had just gone completely… blank.  
  
When it came back, the attacker was strolling closer to Gavin who only now had two Creepers as defence. Geoff didn’t know where the rest had gone - and by the startled look on Gavin, neither did he - but he knew they wouldn’t be coming back.  
  
Then Geoff noticed the _crowns_ on the Creepers, and Geoff’s heart plummeted when he realised he knew those crowns, he had been in the same room multiple times with the wearers of the golden crowns that had the green crystals embedded in them.  
  
Gavin realised at the same time as Geoff and began to backpedal, his eyes wide with shock and stumbling over the step behind him as the Creepers turned and began to flash in the way they did right before they self-exploded and Geoff was yelling for Gavin _to get the fuck out of there, right fucking now, come on Gav fucking move!  
  
_ And then the image was cut off and Geoff was still yelling, but the yelling changed for someone else because Ryan had changed the image to Jack, who was running down the halls and cutting down attackers that had made their way into the castle with his sword.  
  
But Jack wasn’t fast enough to be swinging and running, and soon he just dropped the sword and focused his energy on running and Geoff’s heart was hammering in panic as he watched Jack come to a stop at one of the hallways.  
  
The damn idiot had gotten his ass stuck at a dead end and Geoff was yelling, yelling for Jack to _fucking climb the wall or something._ There was no way out and Jack sagged in defeat.  
  
Geoff felt like his knees would collapse from under him. There had to be something, there had to be _someone_ left that could help Jack.  
  
And then Jack was suddenly standing straighter and Geoff wondered what kind of stupid idea he was about to try. But then he noticed the painting on the wall just behind Jack and the feeling of realisation, of hope, flittered into his chest and he realised he knew the corridor.  
  
Jack did as well. Jack turned, searching the frame of the painting for the button, the one they had discovered as kids when they had wandered around the castle in search of something interesting. They definitely found something interesting all right.  


He had just found it when the first attacker came down the hallway and Jack pressed the button in and the wall behind him rumbled and the wall began to slide to the left. It wasn’t fast to open, but once it was completely open it took only seconds to close again, so Jack only had little time to act.  
  
He began running down the path as soon as it was wide enough. One person began to follow and Jack turned right as they got close to the opening and he grabbed the crown off his head and threw it at the masked pursuer.  
  
The person stumbled back with the force and the unlucky bastard just managed to get right in the way of the wall closing back in on itself.  
  
It crushed the person immediately, but Geoff soon realised it wasn’t a person at all.  
  
For what fell to the floor wasn’t blood or skin, but _bones._ The masked pursuer was an Ender creature, a Skeleton. Known to be relentless with pursuing their targets and a dangerously good shot with a bow and arrow.  
  
Ryan cut off the image there, explaining he was too exhausted to keep going. Geoff thanked him and waved him off, pacing in his halls with worry clenching his heart.  
  
There was nothing he could do - he could only hope that his boys remained safe now. He assumed Jack would make his way to Michael, as he was in the neighbouring land, and Gavin could really go either way.  
  
He told his guards to be prepared to let the kings pass into the kingdom if they did come to his lands. The uncloaking magic he had put up with the help of Ryan would help discover anyone trying to shield their true identity the second they stepped foot inside Geoff’s lands, so if Gavin or Jack made their way in, it would definitely be them.  
  
Even so, Geoff was surprised when about an hour later one of his servants were requesting his presence as they had a visitor.  
  
Geoff walked down his hallways in a hurry, stopping at the main entrance when he caught sight of who it was.  
  
Gavin was flanked by a few of Geoff’s own knights, who moved away with a flick of Geoff’s hand and Gavin just tiredly smiled as Geoff walked up to him.  
  
And then, because Gavin Free just had to be the most melodramatic man in the world, he promptly collapsed right in front of Geoff who only just managed to catch him.  
  
The worry metastasized and he only had time to realise that Gavin was ridiculously light before some knights were beside him, helping to pick up Gavin and Geoff ordered them to take him to a private room and get a doctor or something before he even realised he was saying it.  
  
As the knights picked up Gavin, something fell from the limp hands of the man and onto the floor and Geoff picked it up and inspected the object.  
  
It was easy to piece together why Gavin had collapsed after that. He had been using an Ender Pearl to transport himself quickly through to Geoff’s palace and Geoff was mentally berating the idiot. The objects were dangerous to the user, as they were objects of Ender magic, and using an Ender Pearl for too long usually resulted in some serious exhaustion.  
  
The damn _moron_ had just travelled from his own lands to Geoff’s in the span of under and hour and Geoff wondered how the hell Gavin hadn’t collapsed earlier. He followed the knights as they put Gavin on the bed in one of the many spare rooms.  
  
Geoff gestured away the knights and sat on the end of Gavin’s bed and sighed heavily.  
  
The room was silent, other than the sound of the laboured breathing of Gavin and Geoff’s own deep breathes. Geoff finally broke it, starting the one-sided conversation, considering the other person in the conversation was unconscious.  
  
“ I think your nose has gotten bigger,” he said, staring at Gavin and hoping the damn idiot would wake up at the insult. “I didn’t think it was possible, but I think it is seriously bigger. I mean, you’ve gotten a lot taller and stuff since I last saw you, although you’re still a lanky stick.”  
  
Geoff prodded at Gavin’s leg, hoping maybe the contact would rouse him. It didn’t, so he kept talking.  
  
“ How old are you now, anyway? I think you’re nearly old enough to be allowed into the ‘adult’ meetings now, although you might be old enough already. I’ve lost track at this point. It’s all serious business that basically just sucks dick.” He was rambling now, but it didn’t matter. He got up and sat down in the chair close to the bed and resumed talking.  
  
“ I wonder if the whole thing with your parents make you the youngest king. I was crowned at... what, 21? 21 years, and I didn’t feel ready to be king. Jack was king by 19. I think he did a lot better than me, honestly. I don’t think Ray’s a king yet, as far as we know his parents are just captured, not killed. Ryan and Michael aren’t kings yet. I guess it’s just you, me and Jack.”  
  
Geoff had drifted asleep at one point - probably in the middle of another ramble -, and was awoken by someone slapping his face gently.  
  
Geoff was prepared to tear a new asshole into who had woken him up because _damnit, didn’t people understand that it was hard to get to sleep nowadays?_ He managed to stop himself when he saw the smiling face of Gavin, an inch or so away from Geoff’s own face.  
  
“ What are you doing, asshole?” Geoff mumbled, pushing Gavin away from him as he got up and groaned at the feeling of the stiffness in his joints.  
  
“ Doc said I was fine, just needed rest. Which I got, thanks to you. Apparently, we’ve both been out for a couple of hours,” Gavin answered, an almost _excited_ energy around him and Geoff wondered how the hell he could be anything that resembled happy in such a time.  
  
“ Ah, Ryan also tried getting to you but you were asleep, so he image-projected or whatever it is he does to me. Said he’d fill you in on whatever when you woke up.” Gavin was rocking on his heels and Geoff realised it wasn’t excitement at all. Gavin was _anxious.  
  
_ Geoff just nodded and waited for Ryan to materialise in front of him. He didn't have to wait long.

 

Ryan looked a lot worse. He looked exhausted, run down and just damn tired, and Geoff was sure he looked the same.

 

But Ryan's shoulders lost a lot of tension when Gavin bounded into view and jumped onto Geoff's back, scrambling up in an attempt to hold on. Geoff just rolled his eyes and made him fall off.

 

“Glad to see you're looking better, Gav,” Ryan commented. Then he turned serious. “Jack's here, he's just helping Michael downstairs with some plans. We've got enough firepower here to last us a while... but...” Ryan trailed off and Geoff nodded solemnly.

 

“It won't be long, right?” Geoff asked and Ryan just sighed heavily.

 

“Even if we somehow bring our forces and resources up, the masked guys are getting stronger. Whoever it is is getting stronger with the Ender Magic. More and more Skeletons are popping up. And they're gaining forces and territory really fucking quickly.” Ryan answered and Geoff began to pace again, the whole situation of it making him anxious to do _something._

 

“We need to meet them at the borders. We need to take the offence here, or we'll be backed into a corner.”

 

“An attack? A full-scale attack?” Ryan sounded contemplative, but also doubtful but Geoff pushed the idea.

 

“Yes, Ry, a full-scale attack. On our terms. While we still _have_ weapons and forces to fight with. We have the _Mighty Mogar,_ for fuck's sake, and his goddamn parents. We have you, we have Jack... Holy shit, we have all of us, Ryan. We can fucking do it. We can push them back if we just fucking give it our all.”

 

Ryan was silent for a few moments, deep in thought.

 

“When?” Ryan finally asked, and Geoff smiled a little at the fact that he had managed to get Ryan to at least consider his idea. He thought Ryan would be the hardest to convince, seeing as he was never really one for violence.

 

“As soon as we can. Tomorrow, if possible. We meet them at the borders and we give it our fucking _all._ It's them or us, at this point.”

 

And so it was set. With the words, however, a heavy weight – a heavy burden – was suddenly on top of his shoulders and he forced himself to lift himself up and carry through with the plan.

 

He just hoped all of his boys would make it through the battle.

* * *

 

  
The battle was decided to be the next day. Geoff had managed to persuade the others, and his council, that acting as soon as possible was the best option.  
  
They had done nothing so far except try and build their defences, so for them to suddenly go out and take offence would hopefully surprise their enemies when they met on the borders.  
  
Geoff and Gavin had lead the knights to the borders of the Ramsey and Free land, but from there Gavin had made his way up a hill that would allow him a good angle to start raining down arrows on the enemy lines with his handful of knights.  
  
Ryan, Ray, Michael and Jack were covering the rest of the borders. They had spread out across the borders with a range of firepower for their different locations. Ryan had been able to envision parts of the enemy lines coming up, and so they had worked efficiently to make sure they could take down their enemies as quickly as possible.  
  
Gavin was leading the strikes against the Creepers with the arrows, hoping to shoot down any before they could explode. It was too dangerous for anyone to go down and battle them on the ground, and so that was why Gavin was on the high vantage point.  
  
Jack lead the ‘brute force’ line against the Spiders who were coming over the hills. Ray was almost next to him, using the same tactic for the Endermen coming. Due to protective barriers, the Endermen couldn’t simply teleport into the lands, but they could _walk_ through it thanks to a certain flaw. Ray, with an incredible talent for stealth, was suited best to deal with them.  
  
A huge wave of Zombies and Skeletons were approaching the Jones’s, and so Michael and his parents were dealing with them with their arm of knights. Geoff wasn’t worried at all about that front. It was, without a doubt, the best covered area.  
  
Ryan was more-so used for backup, as he was still seemingly drained from having to use his magic to amp up the barrier protection. He classified that the barriers would stop the first line of any monsters coming through, but it wouldn’t hold for long after that. It was enough energy, apparently, just trying to fight the Endermen who kept trying to just teleport in.  
  
_Cheating bastards.  
  
_ Geoff was somewhere between Gavin and Michael, with a large army behind him. His diamond sword, the wicked blade just recently sharpened, was gleaming threateningly at his side as he kept a tight grip on it.  
  
He was, apparently, dealing with a whole _clusterfuck_ of random monsters that were apparently just to be used as the main attack.  
  
The six of them were keeping in touch thanks to some communicating link Ryan had set up - it acted like comm links, he described - but the link remained silent as all of them prepared for their battles.  
  
It didn’t take long for the first line of enemies to come into his vision.  
  
When Geoff saw them, he let out the first words spoken over the comm link.  
  
“ Oh, _fuck_ me in the goddamn fucki-”  He was going to continue his colourful array of words, but Jack cut him off.  
  
“ _What?_ What’s happening? ”   Jack asked as Geoff let out a long breath.  
  
“ I got fucking Blazes and Ghasts coming over this way, that’s what’s fucking happening.”  
  
“ Have fun with that _,_ ” Michael remarked and if Geoff could’ve slapped him upside the head he definitely would’ve at that moment.  
  
“ Wait, wait, as in _plucked straight from the Nether Blazes and Ghasts?”_ Ryan asked, clearly baffled and _damnit_ , Geoff didn’t like the fact that Ryan clearly hadn’t seen them in his vision, didn’t like the idea that the other guy could just summon these guys whenever he damn well felt like. _  
  
_ “ Plucked, grabbed, teleported, fucking something from the Nether alright!” Geoff angrily replied, still annoyed over the fact the damn bastards were walking across the battlefield to meet Geoff.  
  
A silence. And then a small chuckle and Geoff nearly just absolutely lost his sanity at that because _why the fuck was Ryan fucking laughing didn’t he fu-  
  
_ “ It means the person summoning them is strong to do it, but surely it would take up a _lot_ of energy? Say, enough that it would sorely weaken the actual offences of the other monsters?” Ryan was grinning, Geoff was sure of it, when he said the words.  
  
“ Better fucking hope so,” Ray commented. “Because there’s a fuck tonne of Endermen staring right at me.”  
  
“ Stay alive, asshole,” Geoff replied and all of them laughed at that because staying alive always seemed to be a slim possibility when facing a horde of Ender and Nether monsters.  
  
The Ghasts had floated higher and higher the closer they got to Geoff and he was glad they at least had some archers in the back to helpfully hope. The Blaze’s would definitely be an issue, setting shit alight constantly.  
  
Which they really didn’t delay in doing.  
   
Before they were even fifty meters apart, the Blaze’s had pretty much set fire to most of the ground. While a few of the mages in the front had water splash potions putting out most of the flames, the roaring heat of the fire was still pretty damn overwhelming.  
  
Geoff managed to deflect a lot of the fireballs coming at him from the Ghasts thanks to his diamond sword, a few even hitting some Ghasts in return. He had managed to start to single out the Blazes in an attempt to take them down one-by-one and hopefully avoid being interrupted by other Blazes.  
  
It was working well so far, he had managed to take down a couple and his armour protected him from any serious burning. The soldiers were doing pretty good as well, taking down two ghasts out of the five.  
  
The soldiers that were left, at least. And there wasn’t many, at that point.  
  
The link between them all had been filled with grunting, with orders being shouted at their teams and insults hurled at the enemy. But then there was suddenly a silence, like a hush on the battlefield and everything just seemed to… pause.  
  
It didn’t take long to figure out why.  
  
There was suddenly a heart-stopping _roar,_ one of anguish and grief and Geoff’s heart tugged as there was some sort of growl over the link and Geoff could almost feel the power radiating from whoever was, well, growling.  
  
Suddenly, there was the sound of chaos erupting over the link.

 

Zombies, what sounded like hundreds of them, all dying within _seconds._  
  
And it didn’t stop there. The Endermen were next, a brief few second pause before the sounds of _death_ were coming back over the link and then it quickly moved onto the Spiders.  
  
A few moments of silence. It seemed that the creatures still alive also heard what had happened, as they began to retreat slowly.  
  
Geoff kicked himself into gear. He couldn’t let them _retreat._ They needed to go down. He could deal with whatever the fuck just happened later, because it at least sounded like it was on their team. _  
  
_ He moved to a Blaze and slashed with an almost lazy swing, but it got the battle going again. The silence was taken over by Gavin yelling for the ‘bloody spaffs behind to start goddamn shooting because _oh look that one nearly just exploded!’  
  
_ Ryan began to shout, began to shout a name and Geoff was confused for a few moments until he finally caught onto what Ryan was yelling.  
  
He was yelling for Michael. Yelling his name, over and over again with such _panic_ that it made Geoff almost hesitate for his next swing.  
  
The yelling calmed and quiet words were spoken - too quiet for Geoff to hear over the Ghast’s stupidly loud noises - and then Ray was speaking, the volume of his making Ryan almost silent.  
  
“ Yo, so it seems the Endermen have been dealt with. Leaves me free. Who needs help?” Ray asked, almost _casually_ and Geoff found himself grinning. They had gained an advantage- they had taken out a whole goddamn fleet of Endermen. Somehow, the Endermen had been defeated.  
  
Gavin asked for the help, and Geoff wondered what it was Michael was doing. He didn’t have long to think on it because then Jack was asking the same thing Ray had and Geoff decided to jump on it.  
  
The tides were turning. Geoff saw it. They had taken out half their opponents in … what, minutes? Thanks to the random force that had come along and acted as their guardian fucking angel.  
  
With the extra help of Jack and Ray, the Blazes, Ghasts and Creepers had been efficiently dealt with. A few had managed to retreat, which did make Geoff slightly vivid at the thought he hadn’t taken them down soon enough, but the relief at which he realised that somehow, they had all survived overtook that.  
  
“ You gotta be fucking kidding me,” Geoff eventually said and began to laugh- a hysterical laugh, one that said he really couldn’t believe that somehow they _had fucking won._ The heavy weight on his shoulders was lifting as they shook with the laughter. _  
  
_ “ _Geoff,_ ” Ryan whispered harshly through the link and instantly Geoff’s laughter ceased at the seriousness in Ryan’s voice.  
  
“ Need backup, need to get Michael inside right _now.”_ The urgency in Ryan’s voice snapped Geoff immediately into action, ordering for Jack to escort a handful of some knights to wherever it was that Michael was.  
  
Worry was making its way into Geoff’s chest and he wondered if maybe they hadn’t been as lucky as Geoff thought. He was asking, demanding to be told what happened, but Ryan remained silent.  
  
“ _Ryan,_ what’s fucking wrong with him? I’m going to cut your fucking dick off, I swear to God,” Geoff eventually snapped, and Ryan remained silent to Geoff’s question as he began to order some knights around who had clearly just gotten there.  
  
“ I don’t have enough magic to help Michael at the moment, I really only have enough to keep myself standing which won’t last long,” Ryan said, deflecting Geoff’s question and Geoff felt like he’d punch the idiot if he didn’t tell Geoff just what the fuck was happening. “It’s… Michael just collapsed. Maybe he can explain the rest of the story. We’ll be at your castle.”  
  
Geoff grumbled something about _damn fuckers not telling him shit,_ but he was really just too exhausted to push it. At least, it seemed, Michael was still alive.  
  
Geoff and Jack agreed to go and fetch the other two lads, who were still presumedly together on the hill. When Geoff approached with Jack beside him, he saw Gavin and Ray alone on the hill, all the knights having been sent back to the castle.  
  
Gavin was sitting in between Ray’s legs, leaning against his chest in a rare moment of vulnerability, and Geoff found himself surprised that the emotion of anything relating to sadness was with Gavin.  
  
Ray looked up and smiled weakly, and Geoff saw the glint of the diamond of Ray’s dual swords lying next to him with Gavin’s own bow and empty quiver. Geoff approached slowly, hesitant to even go near them when Gavin probably did not appreciate anyone seeing him in such a state.  
  
But then Gavin looked up and Geoff noticed that the man had been _crying_ and even before Geoff could ask, Gavin was getting up and bounding towards him. Geoff nearly fell down with the force that Gavin threw himself at Geoff with, but he managed to stable himself and grabbed Gavin’s back as the man wrapped his legs around Geoff’s hips.  
  
“ What’s up, buddy?” Geoff mumbled, just loud enough for Gavin to hear. Jack walked away from the two and over to Ray, crouching beside him and began to check over for any injuries.  
  
Gavin grabbed the back of Geoff’s armour, trying to grip it tighter and twist at the fabric.  
  
“ Gav?” Geoff prodded, not moving even as Gavin buried his head into Geoff’s neck, not even as Jack helped Ray up and gave Geoff an inquisitive look before they both headed off, presumedly back to the castle.  
  
“ They… were right there, Geoff, I could see them and I bloody told the guys not to shoot because… it was _them,_ Geoff,” Gavin’s voice was quiet, Geoff having to focus all of his attention on trying to catch the words.  
  
“ Who, Gav?” Geoff asked, but he was pretty sure he knew the answer and it made his stomach twist into knots.  
  
Gavin was silent for a few moments, only trying to bury his head deeper into Geoff’s neck. It took him a few more silent moments before he answered. “My parents, Geoff. I told, I yelled at the idiots behind me not to shoot and they did and…I thought they were already gone, back the castle when he first turned them into the Creepers but it was them… and they got _shot._ ”  
  
“ Sh, hey buddy, it’s alright.” Honestly, Geoff was never too good at the whole consolidating thing and he really berated himself for it at that moment. He just had no idea what to say.  
“ How about we go back to the castle? Michael apparently did a _you_ and fainted or some shit like that, so we should get back and wake his pansy-ass up,” Geoff suggested and Gavin agreed with a soft mumble.

Gavin, however, had no intention of getting back to the castle on his own two legs. Despite Geoff’s attempts to dislodge him, Gavin clung firmly to Geoff and eventually Geoff just gave up and let him hang there.  
  
Jack had taken back Gavin’s bow and quiver, and there was thankfully nothing else Geoff needed to pick up. He did, however, have to awkwardly sheath the sword that he was still holding and he wondered how the hell Gavin had managed to stop himself from getting stabbed with it.  
  
At one point on the walk back - all the horses had already been taken back - Gavin had swung around so he was being carried like a piggy-pick and Geoff just resigned to it, avoiding the weird looks some of the knights gave him when he walked into the palace grounds.  
  
Jack met Geoff in the courtyard and escorted him inside.

 

“Ryan's asleep next to Michael, and Ray has gone to ...” Jack looked past Geoff to take a glance at Gavin and seemed to think better of his words. “He's gone to deal with something. The medic we could grab said Michael seemed fine, just exhausted. I think only Ryan knows what happens to Michael.”

 

Geoff nodded and followed Jack as he lead them to the room for Michael- the same one Geoff had used for Gavin when he had collapsed. Ryan was sprawled across the sofa, his back turned to them and was curled into the back of the sofa and fast asleep.

 

The intention to wake Ryan and get him to explain just what the fuck was up with Michael was quelled when he realised just how exhausted the man was, so he dropped it and decided he'd go talk to Gavin.

 

Gavin, however, would not leave the foot of Michael's bed. Jack had hauled in another sofa and he sat on it, casually slung over it but still obviously filled with tension. Geoff joined him once he realised Gavin wouldn't budge and he sighed.

 

It was silent between them all, - all of them too exhausted to try and even interact with each other - right up until Ray walked in.

 

“Right, so I dealt wi- _Oh._ Is this an intervention I wasn't invited to? I thought only Ryan would be in here, but you fuckers seem to be ganging up on me here,” Ray mused, folding his arms in fake petulance.

 

Jack just hushed him, gesturing to Ryan and Michael and Ray nodded, making Jack scoot aside as he made himself comfortable between Geoff and Jack. His voice lowered as he spoke, glancing at Gavin carefully and making sure he wasn't listening.

 

“I had a little _talk_ to the assholes that fired the arrows when Gavin told them not too,” Ray told them and Geoff frowned a little. Honestly, he hadn't even thought of the idea; of placing blame for the fired shots. But Ray seemed to efficiently deal with it for him.

 

“They won't be on the firing lines for a while, safe to say. Not until they learn how to listen to the leader. How do you think Gav is holding up?” Ray mumbled and Geoff and Jack considered how to answer.  


“I'm fine, you bloody mongs, stop talking about stuff that concerns me behind my own back.” Gavin whirled and Geoff was pretty surprised that Gavin had managed to hear it, but he covered the surprise quickly. Still, it was an interesting fact he decided to ask about later.

 

“Sorry, Vav,” Ray apologised, his voice now louder. “Just thought you wouldn't really like to know at this time.”

 

“You're bloody younger than me, X-Ray, don't start thinking you know what's good for me,” Gavin said it almost sulkily, and Geoff pondered that while Ray was younger, he was probably a lot wiser against Gavin. That probably wasn’t going to go over well if he said it aloud.

 

“Vav? X-Ray?” Jack asked, obviously trying to change the conversation and Geoff welcomed it pretty quickly, and so did Gavin and Ray.

 

“Yeah, we're superheroes, Jack. Those are our superhero names, obviously.” Ray grinned, and Gavin let loose a small smile and Geoff found himself relieved. The kid had been way too tense- and while it was understandable, it just didn't suit Gavin.

 

“ _Obviously,”_ Jack replied dryly and Geoff laughed quietly.

 

The tension was unravelling from all of their shoulders and they were smiling more, laughing more and Geoff was glad for it.

 

“I'll have someone check on Michael again,” Geoff announced, cutting through the comfortable silence they had settled in. “Anyone else hungry?”It had taken a while to realise that it was nearly night, that it was almost dinner time and they had pretty much skipped over breakfast and lunch.

 

“ _Starving,”_ Ray replied, and Jack 'mhm'ed quietly in agreement. Even Gavin nodded his head slightly when Geoff looked pointedly at him.

 

He got up, leaving the rest of them in the room and heading out down his corridor. He passed by a guard and called for him to go grab a medic or 's _omeone who knows if Michael is dying or not_ ' .

 

When Geoff saw the medic, - or whoever deemed they could determine a status on Michael – heading to the spare room, he headed to the kitchen.

 

Now, it wasn't like Geoff didn't have enough servants to cook for him. It's just that he preferred to do it himself. There was something _easy_ about cooking, something that would stop his hands from trembling when the aftermath of the battle begun to catch up to him.

 

It had been a quick meal, something soft and easy to digest, and he hoped the boys would be alright with it. He did get a worker to help him carry the bowls back into the room with the other boys and set them down on the wide table.

 

Jack had fallen asleep, but Ray prodded him awake when he saw Geoff enter. Gavin reluctantly came to sit at the table in the room, followed by Ray and Jack.

 

Geoff took one look at Ryan and sighed, going over to the man and slapping him gently on the cheek. He had gotten an extra bowl for Ryan, and knew the man was always starving after using so much magic.

 

The man stirred, which was a good sign that at least he wasn't dead which Geoff was beginning to suspect, considering how lifeless he had looked. Eventually, Ryan did seem to come into focus and glared loathingly at Geoff and grumbled out something that might have been the word ' _what?'_

 

“Get the fuck up, dickhead. You gotta eat, or I will shove it down your throat until you choke if you don't,” Geoff threatened and Ryan grumbled out something else – which Geoff decided to ignore in favour of not punching the man – but eventually he did get up and made his way to the table.

 

The medic came over from Michael's bedside and requested to speak. Geoff, of course, allowed it and the medic began to explain that physically, Michael was fine. Exhausted, showed signs of possible dehydration but otherwise completely fine. The medic and worker left with a wave of dismissal from Geoff.

 

It was silent amongst them, all of them still in various stages of dealing with the aftermath of the battle.

 

Ray, of course, broke the silence.

 

“So, do Ryan and I have to bow down to all of you now or something?” Ray asked, almost nonchalantly.

 

“You should've been bowing to me before, assholes, but considering you never did I suppose there's no reason to start,” Geoff replied, a small smile cracking and Ray just laughed. “Unless King Gavin or King Michael decide against that.”

 

Gavin seemed to freeze and Geoff could only think _shit shit shit bad thing to say, what a fucking terrible thing to say._

 

“Can't be King when there's no Creepers left,” Gavin pointed out and Geoff bit back any reply. The kid was still mourning, of course he was, and Geoff kicked himself for not taking that into consideration.

 

“Gav, I'm sure there's Creepers still serving,” Jack tried to reason and Gavin put down his fork before looking Jack dead in the eye, making Geoff shiver slightly. It made him extremely uneasy to see Gavin anything other than... well, a puppy. An extremely excitable, happy, mischievous puppy.

 

“You don't bloody get it, do you? My _parents_ rule the damn Creepers, not me. They refused to obey me, and there's no goddamn hope that they'll obey me if they won- _wouldn't_ even obey my parents. I'm not a damn King, I won't _be_ a damn King, so no, you don't have to bloody bow.” Gavin snapped and they all recoiled a little and Gavin was immediately backing down, mumbling his apologies as they all took a deep breath and tried to calm the situation down.

 

“Well, I'm sure Michael can deal with me not sucking his dick, either. Or bowing, whatever the kids call it these days,” Ray joked, and the tense atmosphere dissolved and holy fucking damn, Geoff was glad that Ray had grown up so laid back despite growing up with the war.

 

They all made their way back to the sofas, Ryan lying on one in the same position he was in earlier until Ray forced him into a position where they could both fit somewhat comfortably. Gavin had squeezed his way into Michael's bed, completely ignoring the idea that the bed was really only suited for one.

  


Geoff took one look at Jack and grinned, and Jack just rolled his eyes as he followed Geoff onto the sofa.

  


They had managed to find a... mildly comfortable arrangement, which happened to just be spooning. Geoff had began to fight when Jack tried going for the bigger spoon, and eventually Jack just gave up and allowed Geoff to shift to be the bigger spoon.

  


Geoff couldn't fall asleep. Jack had managed to do it somehow – probably just from pure exhaustion – but sleep was evading Geoff and it just left him to think over how fast the years had gone by.

  


Christ, it didn't seem like too long ago when he was asking his parents about why they had to go visit some damn baby (who turned out to be the Mighty fucking Mogar and one of Geoff's closest allies), when he had seen Ryan bounding down the halls to greet him, when Jack had been fascinated by the wings on a butterfly. When he and Ray had spent a whole day on 'catch-up', when Ryan and Jack joined the court 'adult meetings', when Geoff had been crowned a king and soon followed by Jack.

  


And he thought that he and Jack were too young for the crowns. But here he was, with two of the youngest kings, and if Geoff's suspicion were correct then soon enough Ray would probably throw Gavin from his title of the youngest king.

  


Ryan probably wasn't too far behind in line, either. His mother, the Queen – the only thing stopping Ryan from the crown – was pretty much _alone_ back in the Jones' palace.

  


And god, Geoff just only realised how fast the years had gone, how fast the years wasted by because he was drinking the nights away when the stress got too much, when the doubtful looks of _strangers -_ that should’ve meant nothing to him _-_ just got so overwhelming that he drowned himself with alcohol in an attempt to bury his duties.

  


It worked for a while, but then the war had really picked up and Geoff was forced to stop drinking, to get his head screwed on straight so he could actually think of his plans the next morning, and was only now just realising how much he craved a drink after being dry for so long, how much he craved to bury the thoughts that were bringing a tidal wave of emotion.  
  
He almost just got up, just to give in to the urge, but then Jack stirred lightly at Geoff's movement and Geoff forced himself to settle, to think of new things.

  


Gavin and Michael had joined the King party. They were probably going to be a mess for a while, and Geoff knew without proper help and guidance shit could go real bad. He needed his head screwed on, he needed to keep a clear mind and help his boys.

  


They could help Ray's parents, they could stop him from suffering the burden of the crown for a little while longer if they just somehow got to them. And if they protected Ryan's mother, the same went, because god knows Ryan already had enough stress on his hands to have to worry about dealing with becoming a King.

  


Geoff wasn't really sure why he did it, but his arms had slunk around Jack's waist and captured him in some sort of weird hug that Geoff could already envision waking up to with Ray going “ _gay”_ in the background _._

  


The vision was, thankfully, avoided as Geoff was the first one up.

  


Well, he was up before Ray, so the first one up out of those two.

  


Jack was still asleep and so was Ryan and Michael, who were both probably way too exhausted or whatever to get up at their usual ridiculous times in the morning.

  


Gavin, however, was awake. His eyes were open, his vision unfocused as he stared at the floor. His eyes snapped up to meet Geoff's when he finally realised the man was staring and he smiled tiredly.

  


Geoff wondered if he ended up getting any sleep. He doubted it.

  


He hadn't moved, the reason being he really just did not want to wake Jack. The man deserved to sleep for as long as possible, all of them did really, and Geoff wasn't going to ruin that simply because he felt the need to get up and plan some more war tactics.

  


Surely, he could change his morning routine for just one day.

  


Eventually, Jack did wake and Geoff had long-since made sure his arms were no where near Jack's waist. They both got up and Gavin did as well, following them silently out the room.

  


They sat down at one of the tables somewhere in the castle – Geoff really didn't give a shit as to even think of where they were at this time in the morning – and Geoff had managed to ask for some coffee for all three of them by some passing worker.

  


Another worker was beckoned over by Geoff. Geoff asked if he knew anything about the numbers they had, the weapons and forces they still had and the man, thankfully, knew.

  


He had told them that they had lost a large percentage of the knights, there were still some weapons left but not many and he kept the list going, each item - not unsurprisingly - lacking in numbers.

  


Geoff dismissed the worker and leaned forward to speak more privately to the guys.

  


“We have enough to defend ourselves for smaller battles, but if they attack like they did yesterday... we won't hold out,” Geoff told them and Jack nodded, contemplative of the options they had.

  


“I mean, we almost didn't hold out yesterday if it wasn't for that fucking guardian angel of Death.” Geoff leaned back, thoughts going back to the incident. _What the fuck even was it? Was it human?_

  


Jacked hummed and thanked the worker as the coffee was placed in front of him and took a sip.

  


Gavin just sat silent, only changing in attitude when Ray shuffled in, muttering something like “ _fucking found you guys_.”

  


Ray sat down and they all sat in the familiar silence. Then Jack hummed again and it seemed something switched because then Jack was apparently intrigued in whatever he was thinking of, and it came to a head when he suddenly went “ _oh.”_

  


“ _What?”_ Geoff demanded, his eyebrows furrowing when Jack ran a hand over his face in thought.

  


“Do you know how Michael got the name Mogar?” Jack asked and Geoff found himself stuck for an answer. He wish he knew, but the ultimate truth was he didn't. Maybe at one point he did, but a few memories were washed down with the alcoholic nights. The memory of that was gone, if he ever had it.

  


“They said he'd come back from hunts basically shrouded in death,” Jack answered his own question and Geoff just nodded in a sign for Jack to continue despite having absolutely no idea where the man was headed.

  


“Apparently, he moved quicker than what they could see. All they could see was Death,” Jack continued, and it was finally piecing together for Geoff and his heart began to stutter and _damnit, why the fuck did he have to be allies with these fuckers, they were going to be the fucking end of him._

  


“So you're saying our guardian angel was really... _Michael?”_ Geoff asked, trying to confirm his thoughts and something cold steeled in his gut when Jack nodded.

  


“It would make sense, right? He just lost his parents. He goes on a rampage. Anger has always been a really fucking powerful emotion with him,” Jack mumbled, his voice uncertain and Geoff had to remind himself it was just a theory, they couldn't prove anything yet.

  


“And Ryan yelling...” Gavin muttered, his voice croaky from the many hours of disuse it had been put through.

  


“Jesus, so Michael's our fucking angel. He's our fucking... Game changer. Holy shit, _he's the game changer.”_ Ray was obviously excited by it, his words coming out fast, almost right on top of each other.

  


“What do you mean, game changer?” Jack asked, but even Geoff knew the man was lying with the question. He knew exactly what Ray meant, he knew exactly what he was implying, but he seemed to be denying it.

  


“The tides instantly turned in our favour when he attacked. I mean, it obviously drains the fuck out of him so we can't use him often, but for big battles... Really fucking handy,” Ray said, and Geoff had to frown a little because _wait, what if Michael wasn't even their angel of Death?_

  


Geoff knew that voice in his head was just being a defiant little shit, knew he was lying to himself when he listened to it. Of course it was Michael. It couldn't be anyone else but Michael. The _wail_ of ultimate despair... Yeah, definitely Michael.

  


“He's keeping the enemy lines back for a while,” Gavin's voice was still quiet, but all of them were listening. “They'll stay back. I doubt they knew about Michael's little ability, so it's a shock, a surprise. They won't like that.”

  


Jack nodded. “They'll be more wary now, they won't go for an attack like that for a while. After all, how many creatures died? A lot, enough to leave the enemy lines severely weakened even with magical spawning abilities. Like we said, the guy summoning them has to have used a lot of energy. He won't go for such a big attack for a while now.”

  


They all prayed that theory was right, because it could give them hopefully enough time to regroup their resources and build up their offence and defences. It was definitely plausible, and Geoff just prayed to god that waiting around was exactly what the enemy planned on doing.

  


It had taken a few more hours for Ryan to wake, who did look a lot better and there was a certain spark in his eyes that Geoff couldn't quite place, not until Ryan had smirked and began to play with some magic sparks at his fingertips.

  
Ryan had confirmed their theory with Michael, telling them the story of how he saw it.  
  
“ I was watching them, the Jones’s, holding back the Zombies that tried going for the surrounding attack. But then an Enderman had nearly got through the barrier and I was only gone for less than a minute, but when I came back Michael was separated from his parents who were being surrounded. I.. I tried helping, but there was nothing I could do,” Ryan suddenly sounded tired again and Geoff felt an overwhelming feeling of sympathy for him. “Michael was holding alright on his own because the Zombies were going for his parents. Eventually, they lost the fight and I saw… something _snap_ in Michael.”  
  
They all shared a worried look at that.  
  
“ He, as I’m sure you all heard, _yelled_ and then … I couldn’t see him anymore. It was like a wave of red was just wiping out the enemies,” Ryan finished and they all fell silent.  
  
After that, the topic diverted. Ray and Gavin had gotten up and they took a tour around the castle, claiming that neither of them had really seen it before and they fully planned on finding out more about it.  
  
They regrouped again at lunch, as Jack had also gone for a walkabouts. Michael still hadn’t woken, but a message from the Haywood queen had provided enough of a distraction to make sure that Geoff didn’t go and berate Michael for not getting _off his lazy ass and waking the fuck up.  
  
_ She claimed that there were no attacks as of yet, and the enemy lines had retreated a fair distance away- they wouldn’t need to worry for at least another day against the bigger enemies.  
  
Geoff was dragged off for the rest of the day to plan battle strategies with Jack, Gavin and some of the court advisors. While Jack and Geoff were used to it, Gavin had never even been inside one of the ‘adult’ meetings before and so halfway through the meeting Geoff dismissed Gavin, sensing that he was overwhelmed with the whole meeting. Gavin gave him a thankful look and left as soon as he could.  
  
They didn’t have much to plan; they didn’t know when the next attack would be. They planned for another full-frontal attack, even though that seemed unlikely compared to something like waves of attacks that would chip away at their resources and power before eventually going for a bigger attack.  
  
The latter option definitely seemed like more of a possibility, so they worked on building their defences, hoping that it would keep out the first few waves.  
  
It was nearly night by the time they left the meeting and Geoff was left exhausted, as he usually was, after having to deal with the most boring court advisors in goddamn history. Thankfully, good news came literally bounding up to them in the form of Gavin, who had a ridiculously large grin on his face.  
  
“ Michael’s awake,” he had said it so quickly that it took a few moments for Geoff to actually process what he said, and then he was being grabbed by the wrist by Gavin and he and Jack were being dragged along.  
  
Michael was sitting up on the bed with Ryan sitting beside him. Gavin rushed in, still tugging both Geoff and Jack, and stopped at Michael’s bedside.

  
Ray was sitting in the corner, asleep on the couch with his swords lying next to him. He never let the swords anywhere out of his vision now, and Geoff couldn’t blame him. After all, his own sword was still sheathed by his side. They were all waiting for an attack.  
  
Michael gave them a lazy smile and Geoff found himself suddenly wrapping the younger man in a hug. Michael laughed with a croaky voice and Geoff leaned back to punch him in the shoulder.

  
“ You never told us,” Geoff accused and Michael adopted a sheepish expression.  
  
“ Well, you never asked,” Michael replied and Geoff groaned, getting up and throwing his hands up in defeat and letting Jack hug the man.  
  
Ray had woken up and was now standing next to Geoff, sharing a smile with Michael before talking.  
  
“ So, King Michael Jones hey?” Ray said teasingly, and there was a quick flash of something akin to guilt crossing Michael’s face before he was smiling again.  
  
“ Try King Mogar,” Gavin answered and Michael reached over to punch him in the arm, ignoring Gavin’s yelp. _  
  
_ “ You… That was amazing, you know,” Jack eventually said, breaking the silence they had fallen into. “I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t have won without you.”  
  
“ I don’t even remember it,” Michael mumbled and then he began to shift on the bed. “So, what happens now?”  
  
Geoff stepped forward, folding his arms in an almost casual manner.

  


“As far as we can tell, you gave them a good scare and they won't attack for at least another day. After listening to hours of the most boring people I've ever met, we finally got something set up for various sets of attacks. For now, we're okay. Thanks to you, at least.” Michael nodded at that.

  


“You did it, Boi,” Gavin said, rather bubbly and Geoff tilted his head a little, wondering how the hell the man could be so bubbly even after having no sleep.

  


_He's probably just excited about Michael._

  


There was another silence, this one heavier than the others.

  


'So, my parents are really gone?” Michael finally muttered and all of them stopped breathing for a moment, unsure of who would confirm it.

  


Ryan decided to take it on. “I'm sorry, Michael. I tried looking but... they've passed on.”

  


Michael nodded again in acceptance, and Geoff knew the man was simply putting on a brave face. He'd get all of them to leave, to leave Michael in peace and mourn.

  


“Don't worry, my Boi,” Gavin piped up, and all of them looked at him in confusion. “You're not the only new King around here. Well, if we still have anything to rule after this. I'm pretty sure I still don't classify as a King, but whatever.”

  


“Yours too?” Michael mumbled, looking at Gavin sceptically. Even Geoff was sceptical as to why the man was so bubbly even when he was talking about his parent's deaths.

“Mhm, lost them because some stupid bastard decided to shoot even when I said to hold fire,” Gavin explained, and Michael shared an inquisitive look with Geoff. He had to be thinking the same thing.

  


“Sorry Gav, kinda sucks, doesn't it? We now have to stand in some boring meetings listening to these two talk for hours. Fuck, I might die,” Michael joked. Geoff beckoned in a worker, asking for one thing.

  


The thing Geoff requested  - food and water for Michael - arrived within minutes. Thankfully, Michael took it without question.  
  
They left Michael to eat, and it was only when Gavin nearly walked into the doorframe on the way out did Geoff realise just why Gavin's behaviour was so... odd.

  


He fell behind a little, grabbing Gavin's wrist as a signal to walk with him. They let the others walk on ahead and Gavin looked at him questioningly.  
  
“How much did you take from my liquor cabinet?” Geoff asked sternly, glaring when Gavin just gave him a sheepish smile.

  


“ _Gavin.”  
  
_ Gavin took a few more moments despite Geoff’s stern tone, seeming to consider how to answer. To consider if he should lie or not.  
  
“ A lot,” he finally admitted. “Like, enough so that your face is no longer _your_ face.”  
  
“Gav, how is my own face not mine?”

  


“I…” He faltered in his answer, his face falling as he tried to work through his murky thoughts.  
  
“ Right. Okay.” Geoff ran a hand over his face, slightly pissed off that Gavin had gone and gotten himself drunk as hell, but also concerned that Gavin felt the need to do so.  
  
“ You’re coming with me, buddy, and we’re going to see if Ryan has a cure for pure fucking stupidity.” Geoff grabbed Gavin’s wrist again and hauled him along to where he saw Ryan and the others head off, however stopping when he realised that _wait, they couldn’t have come down this way, it’s a dead end. Nothing down here except the bathroom, and surely not all of them would be down here.  
  
_ Geoff was about to start walking again, but was stopped when Gavin began to pull away and focus on something in the corner. Geoff let him, and watched as Gavin pretty much stumbled his way into the bathroom.  
  
Geoff followed, a pang of worry hitting him and he entered to see Gavin searching through the cabinets, pulling out a bottle that looked suspiciously like the one that was in his liquor cabinet.  
  
Gavin held the bottle out, a timid expression on his face.  
  
“ I, uh, stashed it here earlier because I’m pretty sure Ray was onto me,” Gavin explained, waving his arm a little when Geoff didn’t take the bottle.  
  
“ When did you grab it? Hell, doesn’t matter, _why_ did you grab it?” Geoff asked, finally taking the bottle from Gavin’s hands and seeing that the bottle was half empty and he was surprised at how the hell Gavin hadn’t just full on _collapsed_ from the amount of alcohol.

At least he probably wouldn’t remember a thing when he woke up with possibly the worst hangover of his life.

  


Gavin shrugged, his expression changing into guilt and Geoff felt a bit bad at that.  
  
Gavin didn’t really seem keen on answering, so he changed the topic. Geoff went with it.  
  
“ So, Geoffrey, what about having a drink?” Gavin gestured to the bottle in Geoff’s hands and he frowned, about to scold Gavin for suggesting it before the younger man continued.  
  
“ I mean, you haven’t had one in ages, right? This may be your last chance for a while, after all.”  
  
And damnit, Geoff never had a strong will when it came to liquor, and he had been itching for one for a while now, ever since this whole damn war started.  
  
Gavin gave him an encouraging nod and _fucking damnit,_ the last of his willpower crumbled and before he really thought through what he was doing he was unscrewing the lid and taking a drink.

  


The burning down his throat was a horribly familiar sensation that he desperately missed, and he didn’t stop until the bottle was empty and the room was spinning.  
  
Geoff didn’t really remember much of that night. It all sort of blanked after a bit of dicking around, when eventually Geoff had gotten his hands on some potions and something that resembled a stick.  
  
He remembered placing the splash potion bottle on the floor and hitting it with the stick, the bottle smashing against one of the many walls in the castle. It was really just luck that Ryan managed to come across them right before Geoff whacked some sort of acidic or poisonous bottle and destroyed something or killed them.  
  
When he woke up, he woke up with a pounding headache and something lying across his chest. He looked down, and it took a few moments for his vision to clear to see exactly what the fuck was sprawled across him.  
  
It was Gavin, who was still asleep and clutching Geoff’s shirt.  
  
Someone cleared their throat next to him and Geoff felt like someone was setting an alarm off next to his ear. He groaned, then immediately decided that was _the worst idea of fucking history_ because groaning created noise and noise was not something he wanted to deal with.  
  
Unfortunately, the person beside him _didn’t have a fucking heart._

  
They were saying something, which made absolutely no sense to Geoff because it really just sounded like a few alarms being set off for _no goddamn reason._  
  
Eventually, the headache subsided a bit and he was able to understand the person next to him.  
  
“ You’re both fucking idiots,” someone was saying, and Geoff couldn’t place who the hell was talking _but they really should shut up before his head exploded.  
  
_ That seemed to be his only moment of clarity for quite a while, as he was pretty sure he had been lying there for hours before the next moment of clarity came by.  
  
It was clearer than the last moment. Geoff could even tell it was Ryan beside him, could tell that Gavin had been moved off him.  
  
“ I did my best to stop you from throwing up, but you have to deal with the headache and whatever the hell else you got. I used up most of my magic cleaning up Gav, who was in a lot worse shape than you,” Ryan was saying and Geoff groaned, clearing his throat before opening his eyes to stare at the darkened ceiling above him.  
  
“ Asshole,” Geoff mumbled, although it came out so disfigured that Ryan just laughed at the noise that came out of Geoff’s mouth.  
  
“ Jack was watching over you two for a while. I’ve been caught up with a new lead,” Ryan explained and Geoff seemed to clear up a bit more, actually being able to form some words.  
  
“ Lead?” He asked, turning his head to see Ryan nodding.  
  
“ There’s been more fires close by. Found out they’re being caused by some mage called Flynt Coal. Considering you and Gav are too hungover and Michael’s too weak right now, it’s me and Jack heading out to fight him with a few knights,” Ryan revealed, and Geoff was immediately thinking _no no that’s a bad fucking idea.  
  
_ All that came out of his mouth was a warning “ _Ry.”  
  
_ Ryan stood up, and Geoff could see he had already donned his armour, was already armed and he was cursing himself, was cursing Gavin for giving him the damn bottle.  
  
Ryan was about to walk away, but he turned and thought better. He leaned down, right to Geoff’s ear.  
  
“ Don’t worry,” he muttered, “I’ll protect Jack.”  
  
And Geoff tried to resist that, tried to say _he was fucking worried about both of them, damnit, he didn’t want Ryan to protect Jack, he didn’t want them to fight and fuck it was his job to fight and protect fuck fuck fuck-  
  
_ But nothing came out and Geoff watched in futile as Ryan walked away.  
  
There was no news for hours.  
  
A day, perhaps. Geoff lost track of time. They had kept the room he was in dark, so he couldn’t tell if it was day or night. He ended up sleeping at one point, waking to find a very pissed off Ray.  
  
“ They fucking left without me,” the man snapped, pacing the room and Geoff nearly told him to sit down because his head was spinning simply watching him. “They didn’t fucking take me, I could’ve helped, but _no._ I’m stuck on babysitter duty.”

  
And it was a shock, to say the least, seeing Ray lose his temper.

  
The battle, his parents, everything was probably beginning to overwhelm him, and Geoff couldn’t blame him for snapping. He could, however, blame him for making his head pound.  
  
“ Ray,” Geoff hissed, and Ray stopped in his pacing and turned to Geoff. “I’m worried too, but they’ll be fine together. They’re strong. They probably left you here because then at least we’d have one person able to defend and fight. There will probably be an attack, they’ll be using the guy… Flynt something as a distraction.”  
  
Ray seemed to consider it, and eventually came to a decision and sighed, sitting on the end of the bed Geoff was lying on.  
  
“ Vav’s not doing too well. Even with Ryan’s spells or whatever, he still looks like shit. Michael’s doing much better, could probably fight. I can’t tell with you,” Ray admitted and Geoff sighed, sitting up from the bed.  
  
“ Well, my head wants to rip itself from my body but otherwise I could probably hold a sword,” Geoff said.  
  
“ Okay great,” Ray said, “ _catch.”  
  
_ And then proceeded to throw Geoff’s sword at him. It was a soft throw, one that wouldn’t impale Geoff at the least, but even when Geoff went to catch it he fumbled and it nicked his arm and he swore, watching as the sword clattered to the floor.  
  
“ We’re fucking doomed,” Ray complained and Geoff picked up the sword with steady hands, swinging it around and stopping a centimeter before Ray’s neck.  
  
“ Well, glad to see you can swing it. Still fucking doomed.”  


* * *

  
  
The attacks didn't happen.

  


Which, honestly, was a lot more worrisome than the attacks actually happening.

  


Geoff had pushed through his hangover, standing next to Ray and Michael on the walkway  with their armour and weapons ready at their side.

  


They stood there, looking like 'absolute fucking dickheads' for a few hours, until they saw a handful of figures riding towards them. The riders were quickly identified as Jack and Ryan's group, and the three of them ran down to greet the two.

  


Geoff took one look at Ryan's face and he was immediately brimming with worry, because the look on Ryan's face was of _defeat_ and Geoff began to panic, because where the fuck was Jack?

  


Jack was slung over another horse, and it took one look at the man's unconscious – and burned – face and Geoff was yelling, his heart hammering as Jack was carried away by some ready medics.

  


Geoff whirled on Ryan, who sheathed his sword.

  


“What the fuck happened, Ryan?” He demanded, grabbing the man's arm when he made a move to step beside Geoff.

  


“We took him down, but Jack got burned _badly._ And if you don't let me see him, he's going to possibly _die,_ so let go,” Ryan snapped and Geoff nearly recoiled, nearly let go, but then he began to glare.

  


“Why didn't you treat him before?” Geoff asked and Ryan froze, licking his lips and taking a moment to answer.

  


“Because I couldn't get the knights to leave us alone. Just trust me, alright? Just take me to him,” Ryan ordered and Geoff gave in, nodding as he let go and followed hurriedly after Ryan.

  


Jack was already being treated to, but Geoff knew what they had wasn't enough to treat the burns on his face, his chest, his whole fucking body that was also bleeding from multiple wounds. He had half a mind to tear out Ryan for letting such a thing happen, but then Ryan was moving all the medics away and forcing them outside.

  


Geoff realised that Michael and Ray had also been pushed out, and Geoff was definitely not excited to deal with either of their yelling afterwards.

  


When they were finally alone - the three Gents - Ryan turned to Geoff.

  


“Just... Just trust me here, okay? No matter what, do you promise not to do anything against me until after I finish treating Jack?” Ryan asked and Geoff stood in shocked silence _because what the hell was the man doing, why did he think Geoff would make a move against him because he was treating Jack?_

Geoff nodded hesitantly and Ryan took it as an answer, crouching beside Jack and taking one nervous glance at Geoff before he began to mumble something and played around with some magic.

  


It took a moment for Geoff to realise it wasn't gold magic, the usual that Ryan played with. This magic was dark; black surrounded by flecks of purple and Geoff's eyes widened because _no fucking way, no fucking way was Ryan using Ender magic._

  


He was, there was no mistake. Geoff nearly yelled out, nearly called out for someone to fucking help, nearly yelled at Ryan because _what the fuck was he fucking thinking-_

  


But the magic had already begun to weave around Jack, and Geoff could see the way the man relaxed, the way the blood stopped flowing from his open wounds and the redness fading from the burns and any words in Geoff's throat were jammed.

  


No wonder Ryan couldn't treat him around the knights. If they saw what Ryan was doing, it would be an instant death for the man.

  


The thought of it made his stomach drop and he forced himself to focus, to pay attention, because while Ryan was his closest friend, was the one Geoff probably trusted the most, he was playing with Ender magic. And Ender magic was dangerous and could corrupt any man.

  


_Why, why Ryan? Why'd you have to fucking hide this?_

  


It took what seemed a year for Ryan to finish, and still Geoff had not moved, had not dared to speak.

  


Jack definitely looked better, definitely looked like he was healing perfectly. There was a trail of dark purple receding from one of the wounds in his leg, and Geoff followed the trail to see Ryan weaving with his hands.

  


Geoff had seen Ryan play with magic hundreds of times, had forced the boy to create more in front of him thousands of times, because the magic Ryan created was simply a fucking treasure. But that magic was gold and _safe,_ but Ender magic was dark and dangerous.

  


Ryan took a look at Geoff, a cautious look, and Geoff honestly had no idea what the fuck to do with the idiot.

  


“So, you going to kill me now? Maybe ban me from my crown? My lands?” Ryan eventually said, being deadly serious and Geoff cursed himself at that moment, knew he couldn't fucking do that to Ryan.

  


“I might fucking punch you, that's what,” Geoff finally managed, berating himself because Ryan was a goddamn Ender magic user, there was nothing he could do about, but it was also _Ryan._

  


“I would like to point out I used it to save Jack,” Ryan said, almost meekly and Geoff sighed, taking another look at Jack.

  


“I would like to point out you're a fucking idiot,” Geoff replied. “How long has it been going on?”

  


Ryan sagged a little, the shame clear in his features; the way his shoulders hunched, the way he looked around guiltily.

  


“Found out as a kid, but I stopped using it for a couple years. But then the war started picking up and I knew that if.. I wanted to be _strong_ enough, I had to use Ender magic,” Ryan admitted and Geoff wanted not only to punch him, but possibly run a sword through him too.

  


“And you didn't use it to cure my headache?” Geoff finally said, breaking the silence that had formed. Ryan relaxed a little, the thick air breaking just a tad.

  


“Only use it as a last resort. I thought you sort of deserved the hangover,” Ryan answered and yep, Geoff definitely wanted to run that sword through him a couple times.

  


“I won't tell the boys,” Geoff affirmed. “But when they find out, they won't be happy about it. Best you tell them now, tell them you saved Jack. I'll back you up.”

  


“When the damn kingdom finds out, they won't be happy either. No, I'm not telling them. Ray and Gav are too young to even be out on the battlefield, and they’re young enough to make mistakes because they doubt me with my magic and get scared or whatever and make a bad move. No, they don’t hear about it.”  
  
“ What about Jack and Michael?” Geoff asked.  
  
“Michael would tell Gav and Ray. But Jack… your call, I guess.”

  


And with that, Geoff nodded and sent Ryan out the room as a free man.

It irked him, just a little, that his courage dampened around Ryan, that Ryan was able to make Geoff _weaker_ because Geoff _cared_ about him _._

  


But damnit, Ryan with his Ender magic was definitely a strength for their side as well. Geoff realised they might just not only have one game changer, but possibly two at this point.

  


Hope flickered in his chest, but he quelled it. They still had a long war to go.

  


* * *

 

 

In fact, it took nearly another year for a big step with the war.

  


They had lost resources, had lost knights, but they were slowly gaining the lands back. They had nearly claimed the Pattilloland again, pushing back the enemy forces with each battle.

  


Having Mogar definitely helped, and the man was only getting stronger and better when he became the warrior. The extra help on the side, the specks of black and purple from Ryan that Geoff caught in the corner of his eyes every now and then... Well, who was he to question the extra help?  
  
Geoff still remained the only one who knew about Ryan’s little party tricks, despite the man pretty much constantly patching up the others at this point. Somehow, though, he hadn’t been raised to suspicion.

  


Over the year, the other boys had pretty much made a home within Ramsey's. At some point over time, they had pushed all the beds into one room, all crammed up next to each other.

  


They weren't willing to sleep by themselves anymore. If they did, Geoff would be awoken by someone else having a nightmare and he'd be forced to go sleep with them anyway. It changed almost every night between each person, and sometimes Ryan even got up to help whoever else might be having trouble in their sleep when Geoff was with someone else. Sometimes, someone came to Geoff, calming his nightly terrors.

  


And though gossip may pass between the workers and the knights and whoever else that Geoff had courted the five boys, it simply wasn't true. While they were lying in the bed, sometimes limb got entangled and bodies were clung to others, Geoff hadn't really been able to even think about what the hell it could mean if he just went another step.

  


Really, the war required too much attention for him to focus on other things like _courting._

  


Still, the idea did pass his mind every now and then whenever he found one of his boys after losing sight of them in battle, thinking they were dead. It passed his mind when sleep refused to come to him, coaxing him into wondering if maybe sleep wasn't the only things they did in the beds. It passed his mind when he sent the bored looks to Ryan, Jack, Gavin and Michael when one of the court advisors would not _shut the fuck up._ It would pass when he would open the door after the meetings to see a smirking Ray, and Geoff would respond by flipping him off.

  
There was one battle, Geoff remembered, where he pretty much realised that yes, these fucking idiots would most likely be the death of him, but maybe he didn't really mind it at all.

It was because Ryan had suddenly cut off the link – which only happened when the man fell asleep or cut it after a battle – but it had cut off mid fight and immediately Geoff was worried for the idiot.

  


He had fought through a wave of Zombies to find Ryan surrounded by some sort of glowing gold bubble and he rolled his eyes, irritated that the man had gone into something like hibernation at such a time.

  


Ryan had explained later he had simply used to much energy trying to keep the monsters off Gavin's ass, sheepishly recalling that maybe one enemy got too close to Gavin and maybe Ryan had overused his gold magic trying to protect him. In an attempt to not be slaughtered by the horde of monsters, he had used the last of his reserves to go into a protective bubble.

  


Geoff had slapped him upside the head, but then pulled him into a hug and then almost stepped back immediately, realising _shit wait does Ryan even like hugs-_

  


But then the man had slung his arm around Geoff and hugged him back, and while Geoff was almost convinced that Ray would definitely jump out the bushes and yell “ _gay!”,_ it was definitely worth it _.  
  
_ Flynt Coal wasn’t the only big enemy they had to fend off, unfortunately. Percival was, at first, an enemy that no one could take seriously.  
  
Honestly, there was just no way some dude dressed in an ocelot costume could be seen as anything but funny.  
  
And then, of course, the guy who attempted to be an ocelot surprised them all. He had, for some reason, taken quite the liking to Ray.  
  
They had been hearing about the guy for a month or so, Ray swearing to them the guy was following him wherever Ray went. Percival didn’t approach Ray for a while, hell, he refused to even be in the same battles as Ray it seemed.  
  
And then eventually Percival had approached Ray while he had gone and taken a leak, _-_ halfway through a battle mind you, while the rest of them had been _fighting and not pissing, Ray -_ and it seemed to go to shit from there.  
  
Ray told them, afterwards, that Percival had approached him just as Ray finished his business. He told them that Percival tried… to _snuggle_ up to Ray - not unlike a cat, apparently - but considering the man was taller than Ray and considering the whole thing was just plain weird… well, it didn’t really end well.  
  
Ray had told him to pretty much fuck off, and Percival did not appreciate it and turned into quite the sour puss.  
  
By quite the sour puss, Percival turned into _double_ his size and turned into an actual fucking ocelot and began to swipe at Ray.  
  
Michael came to assist Ray in that moment, and then retold the story from that moment in his own perspective to the rest of them.  
  
“ I shit you not, this cat was swiping at fucking air. Ray stood there, and the cat claws just went right through him. Fucking Ghost Ray or some shit,” Michael told them, “and then the _real_ Ray appears right fucking behind me, like the biggest smug son of a fucking bitch and so I guess there’s now two Ray’s running around.”  
  
And fuck, Geoff was getting tired of suddenly learning about these abilities that _none of his fucking boys shared.  
  
_ Ray appeared timid at the reveal, shuffling slightly on his feet as all of them stared at him.  
  
Eventually, he decided to explain.  
“ I, uh, can’t see ‘Ghost Ray’ myself. I don’t even realise it’s happening most of the time, not until the enemy starts firing off at something right beside me that’s not even there. It sort of gives me a few seconds to turn … well, invisible and escape if I need to. I didn’t even realise it was two of me, I just thought I could go all ‘invisi-girl’ or some shit.”  
  
All of them just took it without anymore questions, because fuck it, _why the fuck not_ at this point?  
  
Besides, it was another strength to their side, even if it was more solely for Ray. But it made Geoff worry a little less about him, certain that his ‘ghost’ would be a good protector if Ray ever got into trouble.  
  
So Ryan, Michael and Ray all had some special fucking abilities or some shit. Geoff wondered, completely jokingly, when the other three of them would receive theirs.  
  
Didn’t take long for the next ‘ability’ was revealed, a little over a year after Ray’s own. The war was still fucking dragging on, the enemy still holding strong but so were they. They pushed back, battle after battle, beginning to work on reclaiming the Free and Narvaez lands next. If somehow, miraculously, Ray’s parents were still alive… They had to keep trying, keep pushing to get there.  
  
The enemy wasn’t going down without a fight. Geoff lost a lot of soldiers - lost a lot of friends - but the enemy lost a lot of lands and allies too.  
  
It wasn’t moving fast enough for Geoff.  
  
At some point, Ray had passed the age of eighteen and they celebrated for one night, as it was all the time they could afford. It wasn’t as much fun because Ray just _refused_ to drink, claiming it was a lot more fun watching all of them act like ‘complete fucking idiots.’  
  
Still, it was a good night, which was something none of them had had in a while. Even with Ryan’s little tricks, Mogar and Ghost Ray, all of them returned still from battles with cuts and scrapes and scars each night.  
  
But somehow, they were still alive. Which was good enough for Geoff, at least.  
  
They had their first run in with the ‘right hand man of the leader’ of the enemy lines a couple of weeks after the celebration of Ray’s birthday.  
  
And when they had seen him, dressed in cow’s skin and diamond armour - which looked absolutely fucking ridiculous, it was nearly as bad as Percival - and Ryan had sworn with so much vexation in his tone that they all looked at him in shock.  
  
Ryan looked at Geoff, something akin to frustration settling on his features.  
“ You remember Edgar? The guy that was in those cells underneath all those years ago? Practicing Ender magic?” Ryan asked, and all of them looked expectantly at Geoff.  
  
It took Geoff a few moments to rattle his memory, to think back to the times Ryan was talking about, and then his eyes widened and he nodded.  
  
“ Yeah well, the guy obviously got out and I always fucking knew there was something _off_ about that damn mage,” Ryan angrily complained and Jack reached out to place a hand on Ryan’s shoulder to calm him.  
  
The couldn’t back down from the battle. They hadn’t expected to confront such high rank in the enemy just yet which was why it was only the six of them, and while they didn’t know Edgar was the right hand man at first, it was pretty obvious considering the way the man literally yelled it across the field they had met at.  
  
“ _I am the right hand man of your greatest nightmare!”_ He had yelled, and Geoff nearly snorted at that. He stopped when the man swung his sword around with such ease that it made Geoff grit his teeth, because while the man may have spoken like an idiot, the ease with which he carried the blade unsettled Geoff.  
_  
In a way, it’s sort of like Gavin,_ Geoff reflected. _  
  
But, y’know, with a bow and arrow. And Gavin was more likely… a kitty compared to this guy.  
  
_ He forced himself to shut up and focus on the surroundings. The thing, he realised, was that somehow Edgar’s army of monsters had disappeared within a blink.  
  
And a cold, uneasy feeling settled in Geoff’s stomach because the field was now too quiet, it was too empty and there was no way in fucking hell Edgar would just confront them on his own, which meant he must have another plan, another form of attack.  
  
Geoff’s thoughts were confirmed when Edgar began to laugh.  
  
“ You know,” the cow-man started, “I thought about what I could do with this battle for a long time. I could fight you, but then that risks myself dying and I would really rather not. So, I came up with a genius plan. Have fun, fellas.”  
  
And before any of them could move, Edgar had thrown down some sort of smoke-concealing potion and Geoff rolled his eyes at the dramatic exit, but his focus was soon diverted on his senses.  
  
_See the battle. See the enemies. None? Okay, fucking great, that’s not reassuring. Hear them? No… Yes. There, what the fuck is that?  
  
_ It was a sort of low chitter, something Geoff couldn’t quite place at first, and neither could his boys.  
  
They had formed a circle, their backs protected by each others. Their weapons were drawn, all of them trying to find the enemy.  
  
And then Gavin stepped back, breaking their circle inwardly as Ryan and Jack both let out the curse of “ _son of a bitch.”  
  
_ Geoff took a few more moments to realise what it was, because while he couldn’t exactly hear them at first, he could now see them.  
  
About fifty fucking Creepers, all crawling towards them in a circle. They were surrounded by walking green sticks of TNT and _fuck fuck fuck, how the fuck could they do this?  
  
_ They were never at the disadvantage of being completely surrounded on the field- they usually had the castle right to their back, meaning no one could sneak behind and surround them. But the six of them had walked out further - had taken the risk - and now they were about to be blown to fucking smithereens if Geoff didn’t fucking think of _something.  
  
_ “ If we hit back one when they’re close, the others will explode, we have to hit them _now,”_ Jack yelled, and Gavin and Ryan were probably the best for that.  
  
Gavin immediately took to shooting, taking down a good few on his side and Ryan was able to send a few flying back.  
  
But there was more coming, like a fucking mob of bright green, and Geoff knew it wouldn’t be long before they were completely surrounded by the Creepers _.  
  
_ Gavin was on his left and Jack was on his right. Michael was next to Jack, Ryan beside him and Ray next to both Ryan and Gavin. Geoff realised he was about to lose them all, and there seemed to be a moment where Geoff couldn’t breathe, couldn’t even think to breathe because _no, they had to fucking live._

Ray began to mumble something to Gavin, who froze in his shooting and Geoff turned _because what the fuck, fucking shoot, Gav!  
  
_ And then Gavin began to mumble to himself and _great, now he was going fucking insane.  
  
_ Just to prove Geoff’s theory, it seemed, Gavin stepped out from the circle and Geoff reached for his arm, but Gavin avoided the grab and turned to smile reassuringly at Geoff.  
  
Geoff was not at all reassured. His stomach was churning with unease as Gavin stepped closer to greet the mob of green and _fuck what was the idiot fucking doing?  
  
_ All of them froze, now having noticed Gavin stepping closer to the Creepers and Michael was yelling for him, but Ray turned and clamped a hand over his mouth to silence him. Geoff was, without a doubt, confused and he had half the mind to think _great, Ray talked Gavin into walking into his fucking death and was now silencing anyone who stood in the way of his master plan.  
  
_ And then, y’know, Gavin just decided to start fucking yelling.  
  
“ I am the bloody _King,_ you stupid mob of spaffs, and you _will listen to me!”  
  
Yeah, Gavin had definitely fucking gone insane. Fantastic. Now Gavin yelling at them would probably trigger them all off and they’d all be body parts raining down from the sky in a moment.  
  
_ Then, because apparently the yelling wasn’t enough, Gavin began to create weird noises.  
  
It took a moment for Geoff to realise just what exactly was coming out of his mouth, and was taken aghast when he recognized it as the sound the Creepers would make when they began to flash. But it was different, a different variety of high and low notes all hissed with an absolute sense of power that even Geoff found himself impressed.  
  
He wasn’t the only one. Ryan let out a low, disbelieving whistle and that was the only sound for a couple of seconds as Gavin fell silent.  
  
The Creepers began to retreat, and Geoff couldn’t believe it. His head simply refused to wrap around the idea that somehow, Gavin was able to communicate to -  
  
The memory - one he had forgotten now - of Gavin snapping at them and yelling that “ _They refused to obey me, and there's no goddamn hope that they'll obey me_ ” resurfaced. At this point, Geoff nearly forgot that the Free’s were actually able to control the monsters once upon a time. _Maybe he needed to lay off the alcohol considering his memory was going to shit at this point._ _  
  
_ And suddenly, Geoff was able to accept that yes, Gavin had indeed just _talked down_ a whole army of Creepers. Still, quite the shock.  
  
It was silent for a few moments and then Gavin turned and gave them that _stupid fucking grin_ and before Geoff could even move, Michael was already bounding past him and tackling Gavin to the ground.  
  
They wrestled for a bit, none of the others standing around interested in breaking them apart. They knew it was impossible to do so.  
  
Michael, as usual, won. He sat on top of Gavin’s chest, pinning his wrists to the ground and using a glare that kept Gavin’s mouth shut.  
  
“ You fucking _asshole,”_ Michael berated and Gavin looked just about ready to launch into a speech that defended himself, but then Michael let go of one of Gavin’s wrist and clamped a hand down on Gavin’s mouth.  
  
“ _No,_ you do not get to fucking defend yourself. You do _not_ just walk up to a fucking army of Creepers and give me a fucking heart attack. Fuck you.”  
  
Michael repeated the last two words a couple of times, each one getting quieter and quieter before he finally decided to get off Gavin. Gavin remained silent, his cast gazed downwards and refusing to meet anyone’s eye as he got up.  
  
“ Fuck, Gav, you just saved our asses,” Ray finally spoke up, provoking Gavin into looking up and smiling again.  
  
“ So, guess you can no longer say you’re not a King,” Jack teased. “After all, they seemed to obey you pretty well right there. Seems we got a new King of the Creepers.”  
  
“ Oh, sod off,” Gavin grumbled, but there was still the tug of a smile on his face.  
  
They shuffled around for a bit, making sure that the Creepers would definitely not come out and attack them again. When they were certain, they all regrouped and looked at Geoff.  
  
“ Well boys, I guess we go back home.”  
  
That night was the first night that they had consciously decided to huddle a little closer in the beds.  
  
“ Fuck,” Geoff eventually said - knowing none of them were asleep -, earning a kick from Jack but continuing anyway. “I thought I was going to lose all of you dickheads today. I think we were only seconds away from our messy deaths, after all.”  
  
They were silent, and suddenly Geoff - for the first time in a long time - felt the rise of insecurity at even speaking in the first place.  
  
“ Same,” Michael finally muttered, his voice tired and sleepy.  
  
“ Gavin?” Jack asked into the darkness, waiting a few moments until Gavin replied with a ‘mhm?’  
  
“ You fucking son of a bitch, do not ever do that again,” Jack told him and Geoff laughed quietly at that with Ryan.  
  
“ I wasn’t going to, it wasn’t my idea. It was Ray’s,” Gavin admitted and Geoff poked Ray in the sides - he was lying in front of Geoff - in a sign of warning to make sure the man answered the question all of them were thinking.  
  
“ I.. Just thought Vav, being the Prince of the Creepers or whatever… I wasn’t really sure why, but some voice in my head told me _hey, maybe if I convince Gavin to fucking man up and accept his damn role as the King already, maybe the Creepers might believe it too,_ ” Ray mumbled and Geoff huffed.  
  
“ So you’re telling me, Gavin actually goddamn believed you?” Michael asked and Ray laughed.  
  
“ All motivational words by me will now cost you all a shard of diamond. Apparently, my words can make you a King,” Ray joked, shifting slightly on the bed to turn so he was facing the ceiling, making his words a little clearer to the rest of them  
  
“ A diamond? Ray, you’re fucking cheap,” Michael jokingly chided.  
  
“ Only the best for my loyal customers.”  
  
“ Oh yeah? So how much for a blowjob?”  
  
“ A sponge per session.”  
  
“ Fucking shut up, for God’s sake, and go to fucking sleep. Work out your blowjobs somewhere else,” Geoff interrupted before the conversation could continue, and Michael snickered. **  
  
** “ Oh Geoffrey, only because I’m more expensive than you,” Ray teased and earned a kick from Geoff.  
  
“ Ray, shut the fuck up.”

* * *

  
  
As it turned out, Flynt Coal seemed to have a brother.  
  
Which did, at least, explain who had been poisoning the crops all that time ago, and had effectively also poisoned the Pattillo rulers.  
  
The poisoning had stopped for a while during the war, but when Geoff heard reports of the same thing happening in the recently reclaimed Pattillo lands, well… wasn’t like it could hurt to check it out.  
  
The world really loved to prove him wrong.

  


They sent a knight out to go inspect it, who came back lifelessly draped over his horse with a note typically pinned to his back with an arrow.

Lynch Coal was the self-proclaimed adopted brother of Flynt Coal who was poisoning the lands as “an act of justice for Flynt”. Well, that’s what the note read.  
  
The fact that the guy had killed the knight made Geoff pissed off enough to seek him out personally. Of course, Jack, Ryan and Ray tagged along despite Geoff warning none of them to just in case the whole Lynch thing was a distraction.  
  
Really, Geoff was glad for the backup, but it was still dangerous to leave the castle with only two Kings guarding it at this point.  
  
The boys, however, were persistent and eventually Geoff just let them tag along.

  


The attack against them was sudden and surprising. They had camped out for the night, just passing into the Pattillo land as the sky turned dark. They didn't risk going any further, instead setting up camp and sitting around a fire as they cleaned their weapons.

  


If Jack hadn't spotted whatever the fuck it was just a behind the trees a fair distance from them, Geoff was sure they'd be dead. As it was, though, Jack spotted the movement and warned them all with a single word.

  


“Redstone _,”_ he had whispered and they all fell silent, trying to hear beyond the rustle of the trees and the cackling of the fire at their feet. And Geoff had barely caught it, had barely heard the twigs snapping underfoot.

  


And then the groaning started, the sound of the mindless Zombies, but it wasn't just a mob. No, of course it wasn't just a mob. It was a fucking _horde,_ a fucking _army._

  


They stood in sudden alertness with their weapons drawn, all standing around the fire in a circle with their backs to each other.

  


Ryan seemed to have decided to use up most of his gold magic before the fight even began. They had set camp on a flat plain, a small field between a ring of trees that spread out into the forest. After the forest they would hit the crop lands in the Pattillo fields.

  


And so, Ryan had set fire to the first ring of trees at the edges of their field. They were surrounded by a harsh bright light- but it wasn't burning, wasn't an overwhelming heat like Geoff expected, but was rather warm and almost comforting.

  


It didn't seem to be burning the trees, either, which was another bonus there. They didn't need the whole damn forest burning down, thank you. The trees lit up the surrounding area, and Geoff could now see the waves of Zombies coming towards them in that slow, almost lazy walk.

  


If Jack hadn't spotted them earlier, Geoff was pretty sure they would've been surrounded by the time they heard the Zombies. Now, they had the advantage with them. The fire stopped them in their tracks and Ryan began to play with the bright orange sphere that formed in his hands.

  


The flames began to lick at the ground, following the roots of the trees underneath until it hit the first wave of Zombies who went up in flames.

  


It was only a move Ryan could use once, as Geoff knew conjuring such a wide range of flames had to exhaust the use of his gold magic. His Ender magic, however, was still another possibility, but Geoff hoped it wouldn't have to come to Ryan using it.

  


It was too dangerous to start moving in on the Zombies and start going for the close range attacks. So they let the fire running along the ground die out, the flames from the trees still strong. Ryan, at one point, had began to drain the fire from the campfire they were surrounding, and once it ran out they were plunged into darkness.

  


Ryan was able to conjure up a small flame, one that lit up a couple of meters around them. Still, they had no way to attack at close range, no way to start picking them off.

  


And then, y'know, they all just disappeared with a poof of smoke. Ryan began to expand the flame, which lit up a few more meters, but there was nothing.

  


It was silent for a few moments – no sounds of Zombies – but none of them lowered their weapons or guard.

  


It was a good thing, too, because suddenly there was someone in front of Geoff, their sword swinging right at him and Geoff was just barely able to catch it- holding it against his own sword so that they crossed in an X.

  


The man in front of Geoff was dressed in all black, making it impossible to distinguish his features. He was lean, though, a little bit taller than Geoff and probably meant for something like agility.

  


It was easy to deflect his sword and Geoff made his own attack, but the man vanished in a _poof!_

  


Geoff grumbled, his annoyance turning into concentration quickly as he scanned around.

  


“Up in the tree,” Jack mumbled from beside him, and Geoff had no fucking idea where the fuck Jack was looking because the higher branches in the trees were concealed by darkness, but that's exactly where Jack was intent on looking.

  


He didn't really need to look, because the masked attacker began to talk.

  


“I see that one of you is able to dampen my powers. Unable to stop me from just poisoning you all, unfortunately. I guess that means I just have to kill off every one of you until I find out who it is,” the man taunted, and Geoff immediately placed it as Lynch.

  


The poisonings were a clear sign of Lynch Coal, and it seemed the man had moved back from the crops to greet them in the night.

  


“I'm assuming it's Ender magic,” Lynch continued, and fuck Geoff wished he was good with a bow and arrow so he could shoot the dickhead down. “It must be Ender magic. So now the question is, which one of you wields it?”

  


“None of us, you idiot,” Ray mumbled. “Your powers obviously just aren't good enough to kill us. Amateur.”

  


It seemed Lynch didn't take too kindly to be called an amateur. He roared, a wave of air sending them tumbling backwards and Geoff cursed as he went flying, landing on the ground a few meters away.

  


The landing was anything but graceful. He tumbled when he hit the ground, rolling along in the dirt before he lost momentum and came to a stop. When he looked up, a bit disorientated, the world was spinning but he could see Lynch floating down to them.

  


“I mean, your Ender magic isn't strong enough to stop me from killing you another way. So, I guess I'm going to have to get my Zombies to do all the work for me. Shame, I would've liked to kill you myself.” Lynch then raised his arms and all of a sudden the Zombies reappeared, much too close for comfort- much too close to fight without being overwhelmed and _fuck,_ Geoff hated surprises.

  


Then Ryan stood, a sort of defiant energy pulsing around him and it took a moment to realise that Ryan's magic – entwined gold, purple and black – was quite literally surrounding him in a soft glow, pulsing out from Ryan like a heartbeat.

  


And Geoff could only let out one warning, a sharp “Ryan!”, but Ryan only acknowledged it with a slight head tilt and fuck, fuck, _fuck_ this was definitely about to become a messy situation.

  
Ryan stretched his arms in front of him, the pulsing energy moving from around him into a sphere in the palms of his hands and he pulled his arms into his chest before stretching them back out, his fingers splayed as the energy was released from his hands.  
  
The energy spread out to form a dome around the four of them, a field of pure energy that fizzled with power. Geoff didn’t really know how to react at first, how the fuck the other two would react, but his senses kicked in.  
  
Right, right, hundreds of zombies surrounding them. They had to work through that issue first. Geoff got up slowly, stepping closer to the dome and peering out to see the distorted image of the Zombies that were only a centimeter from the dome.  
  
But it seemed they could come no closer, and Geoff let out a sigh of relief. For now, Ryan was protecting them. Geoff walked over to Ray and helped him up, purposely avoiding Ray’s confused glance between the dome and Ryan.  
  
Ray went to help up Jack as Geoff stepped up to Ryan, whose hands were still spread in front of him.  
  
“ So while this field is cool as dicks,” Geoff started and Ryan just smirked a little at that, “You can’t keep it up until dawn. So any bright ideas?”  
  
Ryan shook his head a little, and Geoff could see the stress of having to hold up the field already weighing him down. He frowned, already trying to think of a plan but coming up short.  
  
Jack and Ray stepped up behind Geoff and he turned to see them staring in wonder at Ryan.  
  
“ So, Ender magic? Alright, so you’re the asshole saving our asses from this Lynch guy, I see,” Ray remarked and Geoff rolled his eyes a little. Trust Ray to not really give a shit.  
  
“ Well, we got to think of what happens when Ryan can’t keep up this field anymore. We’ll be surrounded and we will probably all die terrible deaths,” Jack mused and Geoff nearly had a go at him for being so pessimistic because damnit Jack, _at least try.  
  
_ Turns out, none of them should’ve bothered.  
  
Jack made a sound of confusion, and Geoff looked at him questioningly.  
  
“ They’re gone,” Jack stated, in a complete state of bafflement, “They just… _poofed.”  
  
_ Ray stepped up to the field with Geoff and they peered out.  
  
Geoff stepped back and frowned. There was nothing there anymore, no Zombies or enemies.  
  
Well, no enemies until Lynch floated down from wherever he was - probably in a tree or some shit - and Geoff commanded for Ryan to drop the shield. The more energy Ryan had to fight this guy, the better.  
  
Ryan did so and Lynch let out a low whistle.  
  
“ See, I said someone was an Ender wielder! What a twist in the story,” Lynch laughed, and then all of a sudden he began to _gurgle,_ a wet and bloody gurgle and wow, seriously Geoff should’ve apparently have just fallen asleep with the amount of shit he didn’t need to bother with because coming out here seemed to be a waste of his damn time.  
  
Behind Lynch was Ray - and the Ghost Ray from beside Geoff disappeared - and a sword blade had pierced through Lynch’s chest.  
  
Ray withdrew the sword and Lynch fell to the ground. Ray gave him a good kick - just to be an asshole, Geoff assumed - and they let the man breathe out his last breath before they spoke.  
  
“ You should’ve hung him,” Ryan mused and Geoff gave him the oddest look he could muster _because seriously, what the shit Ryan?  
  
_ Ryan shook his head in amusement. “Y’know, Lynch is defined as killing someone, usually by hanging, for an alleged offence without a legal trial,” he explained and Jack ‘hmm’ed beside him.  
  
“ Well, I stabbed him through the chest, why is that not good enough for you, Ryan? Should I tremble in fear over the anxiety of what you might do to me with your dangerous Ender magic?” Ray joked, elbowing Ryan in the ribs lightly and Jack rolled his eyes.  
  
“ Can’t go back and change it. Unless we get some rope and hang him that way, as like a warning for all of our enemies,” Ryan pondered.  
  
“ Fucking hell, Ryan, we are _not_ doing that.” Geoff made his way over to the fire as he said it, beginning to poke at the dying flames.  
  
“ Why not?” And Ryan sounded genuinely disappointed and Geoff had to resist the urge to roll his eyes again.  
  
“ I would rather just let his body disintegrate _naturally_ as most enemies do, thank you Ryan.”  
  
Ryan hummed his displeasure and made his way over to Geoff and sat next to him. Jack and Ray joined shortly after, and Jack seemed curious about Ryan’s abilities.  
  
He began to ask for the story of Ryan’s magic, and by the time Ryan got to the end of his story Geoff had fallen asleep. Besides, not like he hadn’t heard it all already anyway.  


* * *

  
  
With the poisoning issue dealt with, they headed back to the castle at the crack of dawn. While early mornings never agreed with Geoff, he managed to stay on his horse for the journey which he thought was a pretty damn good achievement.  
  
Gavin and Michael greeted them at the walls, and Gavin had a stupidly big grin on his face and even Michael seemed a lot happier to see them back.

  


Ryan decided to show Michael and Gavin his Ender magic. It took a bit of convincing on Geoff and Jack’s part, but eventually Ryan did agree that it probably was better to get it cleared with them before another battle.  
  
It was a good thing they decided to do so. Geoff had hung around close-by, just in case, and he was able to witness the explosion of Michael’s anger.

  
Michael had gotten up from where he had been sitting with Gavin, storming over to Ryan and pointing an accusing finger at him.  
  
“ What the _fuck,_ Ryan!” Michael yelled and even Geoff winced, immediately feeling sympathetic for Ryan. However, it was best to let Michael work through his anger without Geoff stepping in and trying to calm him.  
  
Geoff glanced over at Gavin, who was still sitting on the cobblestone steps. He had gone from relaxed to uneasy as soon as Ryan began to play around with the Ender magic in a demonstration to prove he was a wielder of the magic. Of course Gavin had an excuse - they all had excuses - to be fearful of the Ender magic.  
  
He knew Gavin would eventually come around, because it was _Ryan,_ for God’s sake and Gavin might take a while to realise it - may even refuse to accept it - but Ryan had saved their asses plenty of times with his Ender magic.

  


He would work on convincing Gavin that he had nothing to worry about with Ryan after Michael calmed down.  
  
Which didn’t seem likely to happen soon. The warrior seemed intent on taking years of frustration out on Ryan.  
  
“ Years, Ryan?” Michael was still yelling, even when Ray had silently stepped up behind Geoff and began to watch the argument. Well, not really an argument, as it was only Michael yelling. Ryan remained silent, staring at Michael.  
  
“ You’ve been practicing this shit for years, Ryan, and you didn’t think to tell us? Do you know what the punishment for using it is? You had Edgar imprisoned for using Ender magic, right? And then there you were, practicing behind all of our backs!”  
  
Ryan finally reacted, in a calm and patient tone and Geoff had to mentally applaud him for reacting so well in the face of Michael’s anger. “Of course I know what the punishment is, that’s why I practiced it without any of you knowing.”  
  
As expected, Michael didn’t take too well to Ryan trying to defend himself. “Don’t you know what Ender magic fucking does to people, Ryan? Do you know what it’s fucking done to us, what it’s meant for us? We’ve nearly lost the battles against it, we’ve nearly lost _each other_ because of it. Why - Just… What the _shit?”  
  
_ Ryan was too stunned at the outburst to reply and took too long to think of a response because it seemed that Michael’s patience - or his anger - had worn out and he turned his back on Ryan and stormed off.  
  
Gavin hesitated to follow, but scrambled up once Michael yelled for him. Ryan’s shoulders sagged and Geoff only took a moment to consider if it was even a good idea to approach Ryan, but decided _fuck it,_ and stepped up to the man.  
  
Ray was right behind, but left quickly when he told them it was probably best if he went to try and talk reason to Michael and Gavin.  
  
It left Geoff and Ryan alone and Geoff shifted a little on his feet before talking, seeing as Ryan seemed to not want to.  
  
“ Ray will bring them around,” Geoff attempted to convince and Ryan just hummed, clearly not believing him.  
  
“ Michael’s stubborn as dicks, but he’ll realise. He’s not blind, he’ll piece together that you’re controlling it. You can’t blame him or Gavin for being…” He paused, trying to think of the word that would be a little less hard-hitting.  
  
“ Afraid?” Ryan guessed and Geoff went to argue against it - because Michael would never admit to such a thing - but he realised that yeah, that was probably a good word to describe it.  
  
“ Just… wait and see, and don’t just go fucking around with it because you feel like,” and he knew it was really unnecessary to warn Ryan of that, as he never did practice it in their sights because he felt like it.  
  
Ryan nodded anyway and Geoff patted him on the shoulder. “The next battle shouldn’t be for a while, so hopefully Michael will forgive you by then.”  
  
Ryan hummed again in doubt and Geoff rolled his eyes.  
  
“ Look, don’t worry about them. Just, y’know, try not to go insane before the big battle, alright?” Geoff was joking - mostly - and thankfully, Ryan responded in good humour.  
  
“ Oh, no promises.”  
  
And because Ryan was a dramatic son of a bitch, he went and dropped a sphere of - thankfully, golden - magic which exploded on the floor, rising up like golden smoke and effectively cutting of Geoff’s vision of Ryan.  
  
When it cleared, Ryan was gone, but a fond smile had made its way onto Geoff’s face.

* * *

  
  
Geoff didn’t get the time to try and talk reason to Gavin.  
  
He was - along with the other Kings - constantly stuck in meetings and counsel sessions that were boring as dicks. It didn’t pick up in activity until the enemy seemed bored with the lack of fighting.  
  
Gavin was avoiding him, only ever acknowledging his existence when Geoff stood up to talk or argue with the others at the meeting.  
  
Hell, the only person he really got to talk to was Jack. They had been the last two asleep - Gavin and Michael slept closer to each other now, and further from Ryan who wasn’t even in the damn bed - and Jack had kept watch, but confirmed they were the last two awake.  
  
“ Jack, how do you see so well in the dark?” It wasn’t even an important question, Geoff just whispered it as the thought passed by.  
  
Jack tensed and Geoff was immediately confused. He didn’t get to ask, though, because Jack was already answering.  
  
“ It happened ever since Ryan healed me from those burns I got. I can pretty much see in the dark, like night vision or something,” Jack answered and Geoff frowned a little. Was that Jack’s ability? Seriously, was he the only one without one?  
  
“ I could also tell you that Ryan’s out in the forest,” Jack continued and Geoff gave him a perplexed look, because apparently Jack could see it in the dark.  
  
“ How?” Geoff mumbled, fighting off the fatigue he was feeling.  
  
“ It’s like.. a map in my head, I guess. You’re all different colours on the map. You’re blue, Ryan’s purple, Gavin’s green, Michael’s yellow and Ray is red,” Jack explained and Geoff sighed a little, because while Jack had at least told Geoff now and not left it to an accidental discovery or something, Jack had still been keeping it from him for a while.  
  
“ And what are you?” Geoff asked, and Jack shrugged.  
  
“ I’m not sure,” he replied and Geoff let it drop.  
  
So, there was another advantage to their side, at least. But Geoff had to wonder when it would be him adding the advantage.

* * *

  
The attack had been sudden and brutal, the enemy hitting their walls with everything they had.  
  
They had prepared for such an attack - had been prepared for a while now - but Geoff would’ve appreciated if the enemy could attack at like fucking daybreak, not a couple of hours before it.  
  
Ryan had given them a quarter of an hour to prepare for the attack, as he had spotted them coming through the forest and got back as fast as he could to warn the sleeping.  
  
Really, at this point, Geoff considered just going ‘ _fuck it, I’ve done this enough so just let them come to the castle. As long as I sleep.’  
_  
However, Geoff still found that somehow they had been armoured and had their weapons at the ready within minutes. It was a tense and anxious air- they still had a few minutes until the enemy hit, and they could only wait around in anticipation that could probably kill them.  
  
So they stood in silence at the gates, their weapons in their grips and the knights at their backs. Many had gone to their designated positions, but Geoff knew within moments of the enemy hitting the knights would be disbanded and could end up fuck-knows-where.  
  
Well, that was if Ryan failed to keep the defences up. He was working with some other mages, all ready to step up to their markers when they saw the enemy coming.  
  
They heard the enemy before they saw them. A horrible mixture of different monster cries - of Nether and their world - and Geoff’s heartbeat picked up.  
  
Ryan broke away from their group, and Geoff mumbled a “good luck” to him privately before Ryan set up their communication link between them. He then went and stood at his marker- a seal in the ground next to about seven others.  
  
When the enemy approached, the magic he used - the gold, for now - seemed to gain power. Which was thanks to the seal, which would give him - and the other mages - a temporary boost for whatever purpose. In this case, it was the hundreds of traps they had laid out that could only be activated by his magic.  
  
The first wave of monsters consisted of Zombies, Creepers, Skeletons and Spiders. Most of them were wiped out thanks to the activated traps - a variety of things such as pistons that fired out flammable arrows, fire charges and lava buckets that set fire to most of the monsters.  
  
There were still a lot more waves to make up for it. Zombie Pigmen, Wither Skeletons (because apparently the normal Skeletons weren’t fucking annoying enough), Endermen - which were, once again, being stopped from teleporting inside thanks to Ryan -, Cave Spiders (seriously, this guy was fucking with them now), Slime (and those fuckers were a rarity, which was _a good thing, thank you, really didn’t want to see them around)_ and, oh yeah, the fucking Nether monsters.  
  
Which meant a good variety of Blazes, Ghasts and Magma Cubes ( _weren’t the damn Slimes enough?),_ and honestly Geoff was pretty much just so fucking _done.  
  
_ At this point, he would barely be surprised if an Ender Dragon appeared. _That was not an invitation, by the way.  
  
_ The five of them, along with the knights, stepped in front of the line of mages. The shield that had gone up prevented the Skeleton’s arrows to pierce through the barrier, however they were still able to fire their own weapons through it.  
  
Gavin nocked an arrow, aiming for his first enemy. He let out a long breath before letting the arrow fly, hitting the Wither Skeleton right in its skull and it fell to the ground, dissolving instantly and its companions stopped, pausing in their marching.  
  
Of course they were shocked- usually, one arrow definitely did not take down a Wither Skeleton. But the bow and the arrows had been enchanted, so that the first few arrows of all the archers were a one hit kill. Which was definitely an awesome advantage, but it didn’t last long.  
  
The archers were the only ones fighting. The others were waiting for the barrier to disintegrate - which would happen soon, as the seals were dulling in power - and would then attack. The archers had taken down a good deal of Wither Skeletons, which would be their biggest problem thanks to their long range ability for attacks and some had even gone for the Ghasts and Blazes.  
  
When the barrier wore off, the attacks began. _  
_  
The archers had run out of their enchanted one-hit-kill arrows, and were now firing off the normal ones. All of them agreed to take down a section of monsters each.

Ray and his group of knights were once again put onto Endermen duty, Gavin and his archers had began to target the Blazes while Ryan and the mages went for the Magma Cubes and Slimes - which Geoff was thankful for, because usually the best way to take them down was a direct attack but the sheer amount of them would easily squash them -, and Jack was marching forward with his knights to greet the Zombie Pigmen.  
  
Which left Geoff with the stragglers and the Cave Spiders. He groaned, unsheathing his sword and swinging it in front of him into a defensive position.  
  
Of course, of course he got fucking put on Spider duty.  
  
It seemed the knights in his group had about the same amount of enthusiasm to face the Spiders as himself.  
  
Still, it was probably best they dealt with the Spiders as soon as possible. They sometimes had an issue where Spiders would drift from their positions and start attacking with the other groups, and Geoff knew it was his responsibility to make sure that didn't happen. They didn't need the Cave Spiders poisoning everyone.

  


There was still the first line of the surviving monsters from the first wave, but it seemed Gavin took control of it. He began to yell, - the sound on his end thankfully being lowered so Geoff wouldn't end up deaf – and began to do the whole hissing thing.

  


The Creepers began to flash in a warning of self-destruction and all of a sudden the explosions began one after the other, the Creepers self destructing and taking down the enemy lines with them.

  


They were, thankfully, too far back to cause any damage to their own lines. However, they still left a huge fucking crater in the ground which meant that their lines couldn't move forward to meet the enemy in direct attack.

  


If they ended up below the enemy, it was over. They'd easily be overwhelmed. They needed to stay on level grounds, or even try and get to higher.

  
Still, direct attacks weren’t exactly a necessity for most of them. Jack was probably at the biggest disadvantage, but then Geoff checked in and Jack began to relay information on his front.  
  
“ There was only like one Creeper down this end, so we still have an even level. But the Ghasts are beginning to drift over here-”  
  
“ On it,” Michael grumbled, a grunt following and even Geoff watched as the fireballs were returned to the Ghasts from the swords of Michael’s group.  
  
He couldn’t pay attention for long, however, as the Spiders began to cross the crater - and Geoff really wished they had some explosives or something in there - and once they did that, it’d only be a short distance until they met.  
  
Geoff moved his sword back down to his side in an almost casual manner, swinging it lazily beside him as he walked forward.  
  
The Spiders were getting closer and Geoff rolled his shoulders in an attempt to release some of the tension in them.  
  
One of the Spiders in the front locked its red eyes onto Geoff and he smiled laggardly, stopping in his steps and waiting for the Spider to come to him.  
  
Cave Spiders were generally smaller than normal Spiders, but they were definitely a lot more dangerous. If contact was made with them, a possibly deadly poison was passed onto the person. If their health was good, they would most likely survive - but would become lethargic and sluggish - but if they were mildly injured or had bad health, then they were pretty much guaranteed to die within minutes.

  


When the Spider came into distance, Geoff swung his sword in an arc and the Spider was flung back, its hissing becoming louder.  
  
Or maybe it became louder because a whole swarm of them were approaching, all of them hissing and locking their eyes onto Geoff. He sighed, listening in on the comm link just to check that he didn’t miss anything be said to him. The link was silent except for a few grunts, so Geoff focused on the Spiders ahead.  
  
His knights swarmed around him and they attacked. Geoff saw one right next to him be poisoned, so he grabbed the knight’s shoulder and hauled them backwards - out of range of the Spider - and he attacked it himself.  
  
The number of Spiders was lowering quickly, but the amount of knights getting stung was rising in numbers. Even so, they managed to fight through it, Geoff slashing and stabbing in an almost boringly repetitive motion.  
  
The Spiders were eventually all defeated and Geoff stood panting, helping up a few of the knights that had fallen. A few, he knew, would never get up and he was overcome with guilt for a few moments. And then it was replaced with pain.  
  
An arrow from a stray Skeleton had somehow pierced through his armour - an enchanted arrow, perhaps - and had gone through to his upper arm. He knew that if he hadn’t turned at the last moment, his heart would’ve been hit and he’d be dead.  
  
He grunted when the arrow hit his swinging arm, the pain flaring up and he winced. A knight, thankfully, was quick to work on it and was pulling the arrow out of Geoff within moments. Which probably saved his life, considering the arrow was probably poisoned or some shit. He felt fine though - not like, immediately going to die - so he took it as an indication to keep fighting.  
  
“ Alright dickheads,” Geoff said, intending for it to be over the link, “who needs some help?”  
  
He was answered with a chorus of “me’s”.  
  
He did, however, manage to work out who probably needed more help. He would be useless to Gavin, as a mob of Blazes’s was not something they could use a direct attack with. Ryan with the Magma Cubes and Slimes was pretty much the same story. Michael, he knew, was probably the best at offence and knew Mogar would surface if anything drastic happened.  
  
So it left the Pigmen or Endermen. Honestly, Geoff was excited about neither.  
  
He was probably useless on the Stealth front for Ray, so he decided to go for Jack.  
  
“ Alright Jack, where’d you go?” Geoff mumbled, but Jack heard it and told him his exact coordinates just to be an asshole, because he knew Geoff didn’t have a map - definitely not one in his head - and he rolled his eyes.  
  
Still, he was able to find Jack easily enough and gestured for his knights to follow as he made his way to Jack.  
  
On the way, he passed Gavin and passed under his rain of arrows which were hitting their targets every time - however, Blazes weren’t easy to take down. Especially since they loved setting fire to fucking _everything.  
  
_ He also passed Ryan and his group of mages - and the numbers had definitely dropped in the group - who were sending blasts of magic towards the huge monsters that were hopping around fucking everywhere. Many of the them had been split up into smaller duplicates, one small Magma Cube coming towards him and he swung at it with his sword and watched as it fell and dissolved.  
  
When he made his way to Jack, he was glad he had decided to help the man. Jack was currently parrying a gold sword held by a Pigman, and Geoff jumped in and struck the Pigmen in the neck. Jack grinned at him when the monster dropped, but the moment was cut short as more monsters swarmed in.

  


Geoff was caught up fighting a Pigman when Ryan offered his help for anyone else, and Michael took it. Geoff found himself grinning - the battle was definitely in their favour.  
  
And then, y’know, it wasn’t.  
  
It took an instant for the tides to change.  
  
“ Geoff,” Jack ground out, blocking an attack of Pigman and going for his own before continuing. “Brown and green are gone.”  
  
It took a moment for Geoff to realise he was talking about his mental map.  
  
“ What the fuck do you mean _gone,_ Jack?” Geoff demanded, worry immediately clenching his heart.  
  
“ They’re just… off the map,” Jack answered and Geoff swore, sending his sword through the neck of a Pigman.  
  
“ Wait- no, they’re… how the fuck are they there?” Jack asked himself, obviously baffled and Geoff nearly lost his temper at Jack.  
  
“ _Where_ , Jack?” Geoff angrily asked, sending the sword of one Pigman skidding across the ground and attacking.  
  
“ They’re…. In the Narvaez castle,” Jack mumbled and Geoff only barely heard it.  
  
“ Jack,” Michael came over the link then- out of breath and obviously exhausted. “Who the fuck is in the Narvaez castle?”  
  
Jack sighed, and Geoff realised that Jack hadn’t told the others about his little mapping ability.  
  
“ Gavin and Ray, I’ve been … keeping tabs on them, and then they just fucking disappeared and they’re somehow in the Narvaez castle now,” Jack answered and Michael let out a curse - not even questioning Jack’s ability thankfully - and Geoff could faintly hear the cry of a Ghast as it died.  
  
“ Fuck, then we gotta move to the Narvaez castle,” Geoff said and the link was silent for a few moments.  
  
“ That’s going to take over a day, Geoff,” Ryan answered, his voice croaky and just sounded plain exhausted.  
  
An idea struck Geoff and he smiled to himself for thinking of it. “Not necessarily,” Geoff answered and Geoff could practically feel their confusion.

  
“ Wait, how do we know they’re there?” Ryan asked and Geoff risked a glance over to Jack, who was intently  focused on fighting against two Pigmen.  
  
“ You know how Michael has like Mogar and Ray has like Ghost Ray? Apparently, I’m the King at orientation. I just… know people’s locations, like markers on a map,” Jack answered and Geoff heard Ryan mumble something under his breath.  
  
“ Fine, just fucking deal with these assholes first and then we’ll focus on Ray and Gavin,” Ryan replied - actually audible this time - and they all silently agreed on it.  
  
It seemed that Gavin and Ray doing a little temporary disappearing and teleporting act gave all of them a drive that made them all more determined and focused on beating the enemy.  
  
The second wave was defeated in less than an hour, and Geoff stood - breathing heavily - as Jack stepped up beside him when they took down the final Pigman.  
  
It would’ve usually been a cause for a huge celebration, but Geoff couldn’t shake the worry and anxiety that was beginning to cloud his mind. He looked at Jack, almost desperately, but Jack just shook his head. They hadn’t moved from the castle.  
  
The castle, they knew, was being used as the enemy headquarters. So for Ray and Gavin to suddenly vanish there - well, it was nothing less than suspicious.  
  
All four of them met in private, leaving the knights to clean themselves up. There was still a surprisingly large amount left, but there was also a lot of bodies on the ground that Geoff would grieve for later. After, y’know, copious amounts of alcohol.  
  
“ So, we’re saving the damsels in distress?” Michael joked, and Geoff knew he was just trying to lose his edge of anger that could push him into turning into Mogar.  
  
“ It seems so,” Ryan mumbled, and then spread his hands and a map appeared of all the lands in front of them, like on a piece of paper.  
  
“ Jack,” Ryan addressed, and Jack snapped out of whatever he was deeply thinking of, “can you show us where they are on your map?”  
  
And Jack pointed to where Gavin and Ray were, and the touch seemed to magnify the map and it zoomed into the Narvaez castle and Ryan seemed to take on a small smile.  
  
“ If none of you mind,” Ryan started, “I can use my Ender magic to sort of… ride the waves of the other Ender magic wielders. Hopefully, we’ll catch sight of Gav and Ray.”  
  
Even Michael reluctantly nodded, and Ryan took a moment to look at Michael - something like disbelief crossing his features - before he began to play around with his magic.  
  
It still worried Geoff to see the specks of purple and black weaving through Ryan’s fingers, but he reasoned with himself that Ryan was doing it for the right reasons, that he was helping Ray and Gavin.  
  
The map changed shape into a projection, at first blurry and indistinguishable, but it began to clear after a few moments.  
  
They could see the blurry image of Gavin and Ray shackled in a glass display case and Geoff’s blood turned cold as a harsh fury swept through him.  
  
Next to them, though, was the Haywood Queen and Geoff saw Ryan’s fists clench and his gaze turn into an even harder glare. Geoff wondered if laser eyes were a possibility with his magic, but he realised that was probably not at all a possibility.  
  
Besides, wouldn’t do much good firing lasers through a projected image.  
  
Then an image stepped up to the glass case and Jack mumbled a ‘no way’ beside Geoff.  
  
“ That’s… You said you killed him, Ryan,” Jack asked, and Ryan was obviously just as confused.  
  
“ I thought I did, there’s no way he could’ve survived what I did to him after he burned you. That’s- I don’t get it.” And Ryan, Geoff could see, was beyond frustrated and furious. Definitely not a good idea to mess with him.  
  
“ Look, we’ll save them. Geoff, you said you know a faster way?” Jack asked and Geoff nodded, gesturing in a worker that handed him a box.  
  
He unlocked it - one that only Geoff himself could - and inside was a large amount of Ender Pearls, and he had to stop himself from smiling smugly. Finding and retrieving such an amount of Ender Pearls was easy - all he had to do was send a worker to go clean up the Endermen that Ray defeated.  
  
“ It’s dangerous,” Geoff pointed out, and all of them nodded. “Gavin used them from his castle to mine and collapsed the second he got on my doorstep. We need to be careful and take breaks.”  
  
Ryan then seemed to be struck with an idea. “I could enchant them,” Ryan suggested, “I mean, they’re Ender magic. If I could just adjust and play around with them?”  
  
Geoff nodded and handed the box to Ryan, who took out four and began to inspect them. While he did so, the others began to talk.  
  
“ So how many are we taking?” Michael asked, and Geoff already knew the answer.  
  
“ Whoever is willing to go. I don’t think we’ve hit the Boss Battle yet, I think we’re about to. We need to give it everything we’ve got.”  
  
They all agreed to that.  
  
“ I’m fucking worried about those shitheads,” Michael admitted when they had grown silent. “I mean, Gavin’s probably going to say something stupid and Ray might try something risky, and while I know he wouldn’t purposely ever put Gav at risk… There’s still always a possibility, you know?”  
  
“ I know,” Geoff answered, and they all snapped their attention to him. “I’ve had to live with the worry about all fucking five of you since you were born. Every time there’s a battle, there’s always that possibility... and it fucking haunts you night and day and it fucking sucks, dude.”  
  
Jack or Michael seemed ready to speak up, but then Ryan announced he was done with the Pearls.  
  
“ I don’t know if it’ll work, but we’ll try. So, how are we getting the knights there?”  
  
And well, honestly, Geoff hadn’t thought of that. He sighed - there wasn’t enough Pearls for the knights - and it seemed that they’d just have to hold down the fort.  
  
“ Wait,” Jack spoke up, suddenly overcome with something like worry. “What if this is just a ploy? I mean, they could launch an attack on the castle while we’re out rescuing Ray and Gav.”  
  
It was a possibility, it was a more than likely possibility, and Geoff had considered it a lot.  
  
“ That’s why the knights and mages stay here,” Geoff answered, and all of them seemed a little uneasy with that.  
  
“ If we don’t have a powerhouse here, shit could go seriously wrong and we could lose the castle,” Jack pointed out and Geoff shrugged.  
  
“ So? Look, as long as we get Gav and Ray I don’t give a shit. We’ll always find a way to fight back, but we can only do it with all six of us.”  
  
No one argued with Geoff on that, and the Pearls were placed in their hands and the extra ones into the bags on their backs.  
  
“ And please, for the love of fucking Christ,” Geoff began, “do not fucking throw yourself into lava.”  
  
Michael just laughed and threw the first Pearl, and the rest of them followed.  
  
Geoff had used Ender Pearl’s before, but there was always something exhilarating about teleporting that never faded. They were all firing about the same distance, none of them going if they were ahead until the others caught up.  
  
They had made it about halfway into the Free borders when the first signs of exhaustion began to hit Geoff, and it seemed to hit everyone else as well. They all hesitated to throw the next one, and Geoff quickly stopped them from throwing again with a simple command of “stop.”  
  
At least they hadn’t collapsed, so it seemed Ryan’s little tricks had worked. Now, however, they had to walk the remaining distance to the Narvaez castle and Geoff found himself dreading it. After teleporting so much, walking seemed like an awfully boring adventure.  
  
It was just after midday, and the heat was really getting to all of them, seeming to sap their strength a little more. But they made their way to the Narvaez borders, stopping at the first sign of patrol.  
  
They were a horde of Skeletons and Wither Skeletons, and Geoff was just not bothered to deal with either of them, so he made them stop and wait for the horde to pass.  
  
They were able to make their way without being discovered, and Geoff had a suspicion that Ryan had possibly enchanted their footsteps to make them silent or some shit like that.  
  
When they reached the castle, Geoff knew they were walking into a trap. There was no way they wouldn’t have _not_ been discovered during their attempted sneaking - they should really all just leave that to Ray - and there was no way there was no traps laid out for them.  
  
So Geoff was not at all surprised that when they had attempted going through a back door - one Ray had shown Geoff when they were younger - that they were allowed to walk right in. The battle, he knew, was something they were about to walk right into simply because the enemy wanted them to.  
  
He knew the others knew it as well, but it didn’t deter them. They were here for Ray, Gavin and the Haywood Queen, and they wouldn’t fail in their mission.  
  
When they walked into the throne room - where the captives were - it was surprisingly empty other than the glass display cabinets which held exactly who they were here to rescue, and Geoff knew that something was wrong - his instinct was screaming at him at this point - but they were right there.  
  
So when Geoff smashed through Gavin’s glass, Ryan smashing his mother’s and Jack smashing Ray’s, Geoff should’ve expected it when Gavin looked at him almost lifelessly and attacked him.  
  
Thankfully, Gavin was the most uncoordinated bastard in history and tripped over some of the shattered glass. It gave Geoff the moment he needed to reign himself in and get over the shock to yell out a warning, but it was too late and the others were already pushing back against the attacks of Ray. The Queen was also putting up her own fight, teaming up with Ray.  
  
And Geoff knew Ray was skilled, but it was definitely something that astounded him when he managed to land a few hits on Michael and even started going for Jack. He was using agility to his best advantage.  
  
Gavin could still be a challenge when he wanted to be, which was definitely now. He had also regained his senses and had gotten a dagger from fuck-knows-where, going in close to Geoff.  
  
Geoff met every thrust and stab, but he could see that Gavin would eventually get the best of him. The sword was too big and slow at some points, something not suited for such close range attacks. He also didn’t exactly want to hit Gavin.  
  
“ Come on, bud,” Geoff found himself talking to Gavin, trying to somehow reach out to the man and get him to regain his senses and break through whatever the hell he had been enchanted with.  
  
“ Gav, you’re more clever than this. I mean, you’re not clever period but you’re better than a group of guys that get a fucking human-ocelot and some nutjobs to do the dirty work. So come back to us, Gav, come on.”  
  
Geoff was trying to push Gavin back, using an arc that did gain him a fair bit of space.  
  
“ _Come back to me, buddy,”_ and Geoff knew the way he said it that there was something different. There was a tingling on his tongue, and then there was a tingling in his stomach that turned into a harsh tug and all of a sudden Gavin wasn’t in front of him.  
  
No, Gavin literally just fucking appeared next to him with a dazed expression on his face.  
  
“ What the _fuck,_ Gav!” Geoff startled, jumping about a foot and Gavin just started at him with a confused look on his face.  
  
“ How the hell did you do that?” Geoff demanded and Gavin just seemed to become more bewildered and Geoff sighed, lowering his sword. He could see the difference in Gavin - he was back to himself now, at least, and Geoff found himself wondering just what the hell had happened.  
  
“ Wait,” Gavin finally said, “ _What?_ ”  
  
Ryan then yelled something at Geoff, except he didn’t catch it and Ryan was forced to repeat it.  
  
“ Do the same to Ray!” He was frantically yelling, trying to distract Ray from the reluctant Jack.  
  
“ Do _what?”_ Geoff yelled back, confused as to what the hell he had done in the first place.  
  
“ Teleport him!”  
  
“ How the fuck am I meant to teleport him?”  
  
“ I don’t fucking know, Geoff, just do it before Ray cuts all our throats, please.”  
  
And then Geoff realised exactly what Ryan meant and he smiled a little because it seemed like fucking finally, he had gained his advantage for their side.  
  
“ Ray, come over to me.”  
  
And Ray did. Just teleported straight from his position and ended up right next to Geoff with the same dazed expression - but he was back to himself as well.  
  
They all stared at Geoff for a few shocked moments, and Geoff let out a laugh.  
  
“ Fucking _finally,”_ he cheered, the grin ridiculously large on his face. And then Jack realised exactly why Geoff was happy and he rolled his eyes, but there was also the hint of a smile on his face as well.  
  
“ Queen Haywood, to me.”  
  
And then she was next to him - where Gavin was previously - and she adopted the same baffled expression.  
  
“ So, teleporting hey? Could’ve been useful, y’know, when we had to fucking _walk,”_ Michael jeered and Geoff rolled his eyes.  
  
“ Can you teleport me over there?” Ryan asked, pointing to the other corner of the room.  
  
Geoff shrugged, but tried it anyway. “Ryan, to the corner.”  
  
And nothing happened. Then an idea hit him.  
  
“ Ryan, to my position.”  
  
And then Ryan was suddenly in front of him and Geoff just smirked as Ryan had something like excitement on his own features.  
  
It seemed that the enemy wasn’t happy about Geoff’s new ability, however.  
  
Edgar and Flynt Coal stormed in, surrounded by hordes of Skeletons and Blazes (and seriously, why the fuck were there so many Blazes?)  
  
Ray seemed to be thinking the same thing. “These guys blaze way too hard,” he joked, and Geoff was at least glad to see him back to himself.  
  
“ Oh, I see you ruined our fun pretty early,” Flynt said, obviously disappointed and even frowned over at Gavin and Ray.  
  
“ That’s okay, we still have another party trick.”  
  
And then, y’know, for a party trick it really wasn’t fucking fun at all. Edgar and Flynt were suddenly up in fucking flames that towered up to the roof - which was fucking high - and the smoke of it had them all coughing and gagging.  
  
When it cleared, Edgar and Flynt weren’t there. Not as two separate beings, at least. They had morphed into some 20 meter tall fucking _monstrosity._ It looked like a bull - a Minotaur - except it had something alike to Elvis Presley hair on the top of its head and wore something like a detective coat.  
  
But that was really the only thing amusing. The rest of the monster - Flygar? Edynt? - was a fucking tower of muscle coated in diamond armour.  
  
And if this wasn’t the Boss Fight, Geoff might actually cry because honestly how the fuck could it get worse than this.  
  
There was silence. They were all just in utter and complete shock.  
  
The roar that Flygar let out shattered the glass of the windows in the castle and they all snapped out of their shocked trance and snapped into action.  
  
Gavin nocked an arrow - another one hit kill that he had restocked on - and let it fly, hitting the monster right in the chest. And of course, it did jack-fucking-shit.

Gavin let another two fly and hit different targets - the neck and groin - but it still did nothing. Geoff sighed, unsure of how the fuck to approach the monster.  
  
Ryan was sending blasts of gold magic which quickly turned to black and purple, which did at least seem to gain some sort of reaction from the monster, which was not at all encouraging considering it was laughter.  
  
And then all of a sudden, Geoff was hit with a huge blast of vertigo and he closed his eyes as nausea rose up, but quickly settled and he opened his eyes to see that they were now outside the castle.  
  
There was something in the monster’s grip now. There was a diamond sword - which yeah, fucking fantastic the guy could now impale them and make a kebab - but there was also something else.  
  
And then the monster flung it, and it was only when the object soared high over Geoff’s head did he notice it was a person. The dark green person - the same colour that Queen Haywood was wearing on her dress -, Geoff knew, was a goner the second they impacted.  
  
Geoff let out a warning cry, but there was nothing he could’ve done. Ryan had been too busy trying not to get stabbed that when he did notice, there was nothing he could do.  
  
Ryan let out an anguished _roar -_ not unlike Michael’s own when his own parents had been killed - and a blast of black and purple energy hit the monster dead on in the chest, actually sending it stumbling back a few steps.  
  
“ Holy shit, Ryan…” Michael mumbled, heard thanks to the link the shared.  
  
But then his mood snapped - the shock turning into a violent hot white rage, and then it wasn’t Michael anymore. It was Mogar standing with them now, shrouded in the veil of Death and Geoff found himself at loss for what to do.  
  
Because while any of them attacking the monster would be absolutely stupid and suicide, he knew there was nothing he could do to deter Michael.  
  
Or Ryan, for that matter.  
  
“ Micha- Mogar, come here a second,” Ryan muttered and then Mogar shot off without a second thought, going to where Ryan presumedly was.  
  
And all of a sudden, there was a shockwave of energy sending Geoff stumbling back a couple of steps as it rippled through the air in waves of black and purple.  
  
Ryan and Michael were fucking unstoppable. They were a force that could go up against Death itself, it seemed, attacking the monster in a fucking vortex of pure _force,_ attacking all the presumed weak spots of the monster.  
  
Eventually, the monster fell forward onto its knees and braced a hand on the ground, making the ground shake and Geoff nearly lost his balance.  
  
Gavin could see what was about to happen right before Geoff, letting out a warning cry but Geoff was only seconds behind. The monster was planning on turning and swinging, a planned swing which would directly hit the vortex.  
  
“ Ryan, to my position,” Geoff mumbled, then was quickly doing the same to Michael. He wasn’t sure if he could do two people at a time - he didn’t have the time to test it, just in case he mucked up - and a second later the monster was swinging, hitting right where the vortex would’ve been.  
  
Except Mogar - or Michael now, as the veil has disappeared- and Ryan had appeared next to him and the monster was confused for a moment, but then glanced at Geoff and snarled.  
  
Geoff could see the damage the boys had done, however. It had become a bit sloppier in its swings and had definitely raised its defence, seeing as how it was no longer as confident in its attacks.  
  
But Geoff completely forgot that Flygar - or whatever the fuck its name was - wasn’t the only monster in the room, but was quickly reminded thanks to Ray gritting out a “damn it” when a Blaze began to hover awfully close and nearly set him alight.  
  
It seemed that the vortex that was Ryan and Michael had paused the rest of the battle, but the enemies were kicking in their senses faster and Geoff nearly took an arrow to the neck because he didn’t dodge out the way.  
  
Ray went for a few sneak attacks - thanks to Ghost Ray - against Flygar, but he did minimal damage and focused on taking down the Blaze’s. Gavin was shooting at the Skeletons, almost playing a game with them.  
  
Michael, Jack, Ryan and Geoff focused on trying to take down the monster. While Michael looked too exhausted to summon Mogar, Ryan was absolutely thriving with Ender magic, which made Geoff a little uneasy. It took one look into Ryan’s eyes to see why.  
  
Because Ryan was on the fucking brink of _insane.  
  
_ Geoff could see it - he learned how to see it in a man when they craved for power, or when a plague messed with their minds - and he was yelling at Ryan mentally. Hopefully, if Ryan did go over the brink, he would still have enough of a mind to take out the enemy and not themselves.  
  
The only attack they had at the moment was the attacks they could try and get in, which was getting harder and harder as the monster took up to defence.  
  
He still liked to try stabbing them onto a human kebab, though, which Geoff found a bit irritating.  
  
“ The Skeletons are down,” Gavin said, letting the last arrow fly and the last Skeleton fell.  
  
“ Yep, same with the Blaze’s right about…” There was a metallic sort of heaving sound, and then Ray dusted his hands. “Now.”  
  
“ Fantastic, we can’t say the same though,” Geoff mumbled and they all went into silence. How the hell was one meant to defeat an Elvis Presley 20 meter tall bull?  
  
Ryan began to float up, but then a searing hot flame burst to life from the sky and Geoff winced, hoping Ryan hadn’t been cooked.  
  
He hadn’t, but the relief of that was sort of overshadowed by the fact the fucking bull could now breathe fire.  
  
“ Are we dealing with a dragon here or what?” Ray grumbled, obviously annoyed by the lack of action happening.  
  
Michael shrugged. “I think we’re dealing with a fucking tower-tall bull, with a goddamn sword the size of like all of us stacked on top of one another, that can breathe fire. I don’t think even a dragon can say they can hold a diamond sword.”  
  
“ Don’t start giving them ideas,” Ryan warned between blasts of his magic.  
  
There was nothing that was affecting the bull/dragon. Geoff was swinging when he could, but it seemed like he was trying to mine a diamond block with a wooden pickaxe. It was useless and pretty much goddamn impossible.  
  
“ Attack in unison,” Jack suggested and Geoff took it into consideration for a moment.  
  
“ Alright, that we can do I think. Ray, I need you to- _Oh.”_ Geoff stopped in his sentence, a thought finally hitting him. Ghost Ray was merely an illusion, but it was effective. If they could replicate the same idea, just on a bigger scale, it could possibly work.  
  
“ Oh?” Michael snapped, waiting for an answer and Geoff explained his idea.  
  
“ Ryan, I need you to project an image. Like Ghost Ray or something, but better and about twenty times taller. A meter or so taller than this guy. If we can convince the guy he’s fighting him and using the attacks-” Geoff explained.  
  
“ Oh, _oh,_ so while they fight we look for blind spots and weak spots?” Gavin asked, letting an arrow fly into the monster’s groin.  
  
Geoff nodded and they all gained some confidence at the threads of the plan.  
  
Geoff knew the energy to conjure such an image would take most, if not all, of his energy and so Geoff made it his goal to protect Ryan as best as he could.  
  
Ryan began to conjure the image, a spiral of darkness weaving up to the roof and when it slithered away, the image of a ….  
  
_And just what the shit, Ryan?  
  
_ Geoff nearly lost it, nearly probably fucking died laughing because Ryan had conjured up, in lack of better words, a pig man. A man painted pink - not even painted, actually had some pigs skin - with a curly tail and pig’s nose stood above them and Ryan smirked from next to Geoff.  
  
“ It’s Prince Oinkens the First,” Ryan explained and Geoff had to fight himself to make sure he did not dissolve into a fit of laughter.  
  
Gavin just let out a usual Gavin sort of squawk and Michael let out a few colourful swears, while Jack just laughed and so did Ray.  
  
Geoff rolled his eyes. “Well, Ryan’s lost his goddamn mind,” he muttered and avoided the amused look Ryan gave him.  
  
“Okay,” Geoff said, gaining the attention of them all, “Let's get to work, boys.”

  


The first attack from Prince Oinkens demanded the attention of Flygar, allowing the rest of them to move without being seen. The ground was shaking as the two giants collided, trying to throw punches. Prince Oinkens was merely an image, unable to be hurt but also unable to hurt Flygar, so they were forced to try and make the illusion more realistic by hurting the monster where Prince Oinkens was punching.

  


Whenever Prince Oinkens punched at Flygar, Ryan would send the closest person up into the air to strike exactly where the illusion would have landed a blow. Geoff had been sent up to strike at the stomach and somewhere dangerously close to the groin, but there had been little results.  
  
Prince Oinkens’ image flickered when Ryan sent Michael up to hit Flygar’s shoulder. Ryan was draining his energy and soon he wouldn’t have anything left, so they had to take down Flygar soon.  
  
“ Oh, oh _shit,”_ Ray suddenly said and Geoff was quickly scanning the field, trying to find Ray and see if he was in trouble.  
  
He wasn’t, he had simply just stopped fighting and stood a fair distance away from Flygar and was staring at the castle.  
  
“ What?” All of them asked at pretty much the same time when Ray didn’t explain his sudden actions.  
  
“ I forgot about the castle’s defences,” Ray told them quietly, making sure only those on the links could hear it.  
  
“ What defences?” Jack asked, taking a swing at the monster’s ankle to try and slow him down a little in case he decided to go for a walk.  
  
“ There’s the materials for a TNT cannon in a chest in a room only the Narvaez’s can get to,” Ray explained, and Geoff found himself with a large grin spreading across his face.  
  
“ That could be useful,” Jack mumbled, and Geoff was already thinking of the plan.  
  
“ Alright, Jack take Ray back to the castle and assemble the cannons. It’s up to the rest of us to distract this ugly fucker,” Geoff ordered and they all got to work instantly.  
  
Ray and Jack slunk away unseen, heading towards the castle. The others worked well - despite Ryan’s magic dimming - in distracting Flygar, so that even when Geoff teleported Jack and Ray back once they had the materials and began to build, Flygar didn’t seem to notice a thing.  
  
The cannon had just finished being assembled - and God, Geoff hoped that Jack knew what the fuck he was doing - when Prince Oinkens disappeared with a punch from Flygar.  
  
Ryan - ever the dramatic bastard - collapsed from where he was standing, not unconscious (the link would’ve broken if he was), but definitely out of the fight. Geoff swore and moved in front of him in an attempt to protect him.  
  
“ Get back!” Ray hollered - obviously forgetting about the link - and they all moved well out of the way as Jack triggered the first TNT.  
  
It exploded when it hit the giant’s chest and he roared, taking a few steps back. Of course, diamond fucking swords could barely scratch him but it seemed an explosion could.  
  
Whatever, Geoff would take it.

  
Another five TNT blocks were fired off in rapid succession, and on the fifth the giant finally fell forward, sprawled on the ground. Alive, but down for the count.  
  
They all glanced warily at each other and moved in, their swords at the ready to swing. Ray had moved to the beast’s neck, apparently going to behead the guy. Gruesome, but it would probably provide the best result.  
  
Ray lifted his sword, ready to strike, but the beast moved its head and looked at Ray.  
  
“ Don’t you want to know about your mother, little Narvaez?” And God, the voice sounded like claws scratching a blackboard, like a crowd of people screeching and Geoff winced.  
  
And shit, Geoff had honestly forgotten all about Ray’s mother, had forgotten that she was a prisoner of the war. At this point, he pretty much just assumed that all their parents were dead and he kicked himself mentally for forgetting Ray’s.  
  
Ray stopped mid-swing, frozen for a moment.  
  
“ Ray, don’t listen to the bastard, he’ll say all sorts of bullshit,” Michael warned and Ryan looked up from where he was sitting against the tree. Geoff was glad to see that he was gaining his energy back fairly quickly.  
  
“ Ray, trust me,” Ryan mumbled, but it still was easily heard over their links, “she’s fine.”  
Ray looked up from the monster beneath him and stared at Ryan. Ryan stared right back and they seemed locked in some sort of silent communication until eventually Ray nodded and put his attention back onto the monster at his feet.  
  
He swung, and the contact made the beast wail. Michael put a hand on Ray’s chest before the next swing and smiled reassuringly at him before pushing him back a little and stepping up to the plate.  
  
And yeah, so add “really good headsman” to the list of qualifications on Michael’s resume sheet or some shit along with “nicknamed Mogar” and “brutal with a diamond sword.”  
  
Eventually, it seemed the beast had finally been defeated as it suddenly dissolved, smoking out and making all of them cough as the smoke infiltrated their lungs.  
  
There was a moment of silence. A few moments, actually. No one moved and no one spoke.  
  
“ We won!”  Gavin cheered eventually, apparently snapping out of the daze first and all of them suddenly had face-splitting grins on their face.  
  
  
After fucking _years_ , it was finally over. They had won.  
  
“ Holy shit, dude, we actually didn’t fucking _die,”_ Michael marvelled, obviously more shocked over that fact. Geoff couldn’t blame him, he was still confused as to how they had survived the whole ordeal.  
  
Gavin let out something resembled a squawk and Geoff suddenly found himself with an armful of him, laughing as Gavin desperately clung to him to try and hold on. This time, Geoff didn’t push him off and instead held him closer, an insane sort of laughter spilling from his lips and the absolute astonishment they were all alive.  
  
“ Hey Geoff,” Gavin finally muttered into Geoff’s shoulder and Geoff smiled fondly.  
  
“ Hey buddy.”  
  
Out of the corners of his eye, he saw Michael going to help up Ryan and they shared a sort of affectionate smile - one that definitely had a lot of different meanings behind it - and Jack had scooped up Ray, swinging him around.  
  
The joy of winning the battle was overwhelming, and they all cheered and roared for a very long time.  
  
Ray had almost turned the mood around, looking intensely at Ryan and frowning. “So, where’s my mum?” He asked, and the somber mood was avoided with a cheeky grin from Ryan.  
  
“ Don’t worry, I managed to get her to my own palace through a few links and tricks. The enemy had moved most of their resources to this palace, so I was able to sneak her in and hide her. She’s fine,” Ryan explained and Ray grinned, thanking him.  
  
It was getting dark by the time they finally settled, and they decided to head into the Haywood palace. Mostly for Ray, but also because most of the Narvaez palace had been trashed - Ray joked it was pretty much made from dirt anyway - and also because there wasn’t, y’know, enough beds they could cram together to sleep in.  
  
With the Ender Pearls, they were able to move to the Haywood castle. All of them were exhausted, their muscles stiffening and their joints sore, so the journey took longer as they took a large amount of breaks.  
  
Eventually, they made their way into the castle. Ryan directed Ray to where his mother was and Ray departed from their side to go find her.  
  
They left him to talk privately with her and Geoff went into the kitchen to look for food. The other four followed, settling down at a table near by as Geoff whipped up a quick meal. All of the workers and servants had left, so it was solely up to Geoff.  
  
He didn’t mind.  
  
At one point, he looked up from his cooking to see that Gavin had squirmed his way into Ryan’s lap and was leaning over the table to gush over the battle with Michael. He was making wide arm movements - nearly hitting Ryan in the face a few times - and then getting wide-eyed when Michael talked about how ‘fucking awesome it was to team up with Ryan’.  
  
There was something swelling in Geoff’s chest, something more than just adoration and pride, and Geoff began to wonder the possibilities. He never missed the way that Ray would sent fleeting glances to the person talking, not wanting to be caught, and then looking down and smiling fondly.  
  
Gavin would talk more excitedly and animatedly, but would quieten in an instant when the others talked. Ryan was just glancing at them all in a rare sort of affection. Michael would grin whenever someone looked at him, and made even a simple glance something _more._ Jack was just soaking it all in, and was sharing his own fair share of smiles and affectionate stares.  
  
Honestly, it was all just such mushy shit and Geoff had no idea how to handle it. He could handle war, he could handle battles and swords and death, but how the hell was he meant to handle going about being in love with five absolute idiots?  
  
_In love, wait, where the fuck did that come from?_

  


He knew he wasn’t fooling himself though. He couldn’t not love these boys, couldn’t deny the protective urge he had over all of them that he had with no one else, couldn’t deny just how worried and sick he felt whenever one of them was hurt.  
  
And Jack had already patched the majority of their wounds - Geoff had somehow avoided anything worse than bruises and scratches - and Ryan had shifted any broken bones painlessly back into place, which Michael and Ray had (the latter hiding his until after the talk with his mother, because he was a cheeky bastard).  
  
Geoff placed the meal in front of them and they all wolfed it down.  
  
After the meal, they all thanked him and Jack reached over and touched his arm, which was still clad in armour - they hadn’t had the time to change - and Geoff smiled, the faint spark igniting beneath the touch.  
  
They all went into separate rooms to change, Ryan passing them all some casual clothes they could change into. Well, nearly separate considering Gavin still nearly walked right in on Geoff butt-naked and Geoff threw his shoe at him to try and get him out.  
  
The clothes fit Geoff and Jack relatively well, but they hung a little off the lads and Geoff snickered when Gavin had somehow managed to get his shirt backwards.  
  
“ It’s a fucking shirt, dumbass,” Geoff chided, “how the fuck did you get it backwards?”  
  
“ It’s not a normal shirt,” Gavin protested, “it’s all minged up. Look at this, why the hell are the buttons on backwards?”  
  
“ Why the fuck is your brain backwards?” Michael mumbled and Ray chanted out an “ _Oooh, fucking got ‘em!”_  
  
After that, they went to go find the beds to push together in the spare room. The Narvaez Queen had claimed the main room, so they settled for the next biggest one and managed to find another double bed to push next to the other.  
  
They settled into the bed pretty quickly, and Geoff smiled into the darkness when Ray entwined their legs and Ryan draped an arm over his waist.  
  
Even when the shakes from the after battle came on - and Geoff knew it would’ve been a restless night plagued from nightmares if Ryan hadn’t pressed up against him a little harder and if Michael hadn’t reassuringly placed a hand on his arm - he found that he fell asleep rather quickly.  
  
He woke up to quite the scene. Ryan was standing in the corner of the room with Michael, both of them talking in hushed tones. The link had dropped at some point after the battle, and Geoff cursed that it wasn’t up even now. So he just had to strain to listen past the snoring of the others to their conversation.  
  
“ -ay sorry,” Michael was saying, obviously sincere and very apologetic.  
  
“ Don’t worry about it,” Ryan reassured him and Michael frowned.  
  
“ I treated you like a fucking asshole,” Michael pressed and Ryan just shook his head a little.  
  
“ It’s fine,” Ryan pressed back and Michael sighed.  
  
“ I mean, you can always make it up to me,” Ryan suddenly said and Geoff indicated a change in Ryan’s tone.  
  
“ Oh yeah, how?” Michael asked, his head tilting a little and shit- no way were they about to fucking do what Geoff was thinking.  
  
“ Like this,” Ryan said, and then he was leaning in and _yep, those two fuckers were definitely making out.  
  
_ Geoff let them have their moment, stopping them when Ryan had moved Michael up against the wall and began to kiss a little deeper.  
  
“ Not to interrupt you two banging or anything,” Geoff said, loudly enough to wake the others, “but if you two could not… You know, _bang.”  
  
_ “ Who’s banging?” Ray mumbled from next to him and Geoff ignored him in favour of listening to Ryan, who separated from Michael and smirked at Geoff.  
  
“ My castle,” Ryan reasoned, and Geoff rolled his eyes but didn’t reply.  
  
“ Why, you want some Geoffers?” Michael teased and Geoff couldn’t stop the way his cheeks reddened a little and his gaze flickered nervously between the two. Michael picked up on it and seemed shock for a moment and then smiled.  
  
“ Well, alright then.”  
  
Now Geoff wasn’t really sure if he had woken up at all, because all of a sudden fucking Michael was standing over him and then connecting their lips in a fiery sort of kiss and Geoff was not about to let Michael become the boss of him, even if it was too early in the morning for doing fucking anything.  
  
Michael eventually surrendered and Geoff pushed on, sitting up from the bed and Michael let his hands wander to Geoff’s cheeks, and fuck yes Geoff could get used to this.  
  
And then Michael pulled away and Geoff nearly _whimpered,_ but it was cut short because then it was Ryan kissing him - almost nervously - and Geoff made it his goal to wipe away any of the doubts plaguing Ryan by grabbing his shirt and nipping at Ryan’s bottom lip. He was kissing Ryan, the boy he had known as a child with the world of magic at his fingertips and now had Geoff wrapped around them too.  
  
Somehow, Jack had woken up and was now kissing Michael, who had easily surrendered to the man. Geoff could definitely tell that Jack did not mind one bit being woken up after that.  
  
Then something pinched Geoff’s butt and he squirmed, shifting back from Ryan and the man laughed, and Geoff swatted at him because _damnit Ryan they couldn’t bang first thing in the morning.  
  
_ … _.Could they?  
  
_ “ Holy fuck guys, my mother isn’t so far down and if she catches us about to bang I swear t- _Oh.”  
  
_ Michael had moved from Jack to Ray, leaving trails of kisses down Ray’s neck which seemed to be the reason in why Ray had suddenly silenced.  
  
Gavin was the last to wake, groggily coming to awareness and just stared at them all in shock, like they had all lost their minds.  
  
Maybe they had.  
  
But then Geoff was being pulled away by Jack and Geoff smiled because fucking finally, because Jack was Geoff’s right hand man, had always been there right beside Geoff - had always been a comforting presence, a strong confidant and a willing listener, had always been the rock that ground Geoff - and now he was _with_ him, entwining their fingers as they locked lips.  
  
They moved around, all of them now desperate to get a taste of each other. Ray was a set of sneaky kisses, kissing him passionately at first and then leaving a sneaky set of bruises along Geoff’s neck and collarbone. It really was a shame to part with him.  
  
Gavin was everything Geoff expected. Messy, desperate and clumsy but nothing less than perfect.    
  
For the first few hours of thee morning, they spent nothing but just getting to know each other’s bodies and lips, most of all. After that though, Geoff realised that hey, he was a King and he did have duties like a whole kingdom to attend to.  
  
But his boys convinced him that he could wait just _one more hour, please Geoff..._

* * *

  
  
After they returned to Achievement City, it was a matter of rebuilding their kingdoms. It would take a long time to repair the years of damage, but they would be able to do it together.  
  
In fact, they changed a lot of the rules - and fuck what the counsel and laws said - to make it their own way. They broke down all the borders between each other and declared all of their lands now as one big land with six Kings (Ray’s mother had handed him the crown pretty much the day after the war had officially been declared over.)  
  
Monsters had respawned, which provided them with some entertainment at least, but they were nothing in the numbers compared to the war.  
  
And now Geoff stood with five - _cheeky, clever, brave, sneaky, strong -_ perfect men beside him, and he knew that no matter what tried to tear them down, or break them or kill them, they would always stand strong together.  
  
They were six kings, after all, and Geoff knew that not even a fucking Ender Dragon could fuck with them at this point. _That was still not an invitation, though._

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Horribly sappy ending there oh well  
> I might die tomorrow, because it's school and I am just noPE.  
> Paragraphing went so amazingly wrong and right now I am just not bothered for it.  
> I don't know what happened here. I'm glad it's off my hands at least. Now I can focus on other things yay~  
> Big thanks to whalehuntingboyfriends for helping me (once again) and being super awesome and stuff <3  
> Tumblr over at: youre-my-bois


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